In striving for means of survival, Nigerians engage in diverse professions to put food on their table, amidst widespread poverty.
And for the common man on the streets, there seems no end in sight to the scourge of penury, and the economic situation has aggravated in recent times.
Just like their male counterpart, women are also hard hit by penury, pushing some into commercial sex work as a source of livelihood.
The commercial sex trade has thrived in Nigeria, especially in major cities for years.
The cadre of ladies involve includes both uneducated, who once for decades formed the bulk of sex workers, but female students now engage in it, as some claim to support themselves on campus.
As the economic crunch bites harder, Radio Nigeria interacted with some sex workers in Ibadan, and their responses capture the despondency being expressed by the average Nigerian:-
“We need the government to help us, I’m a widow with children suffering for many years, hoping that Nigeria will be better, but things are getting worst. I need to get things for myself and my children, so I have to join prostitution to survive; I’m ready to receive help if I can see someone to help me.”
“Hadn’t been I’ve not travelled to some other countries, I’ll say maybe this is how other countries are, but no, it is not, Nigeria is really affecting me. It is very difficult to survive here, before in this my work (prostitution) I do sell more than Ten thousand or Fifteen thousand naira but now it is by force I do sell Two thousand five hundred naira. We only pray to God to help us out in this Nigeria”.
“Nigeria’s problem now, is more than what those that are careful can handle, we don’t know where we are coming from neither do we know where we are going to. Things that are above human comprehension are happening, I can’t decide if I should run or stay, things are too hard, I can’t buy cream for myself or for my children, I can’t pay house rent. Before in this work, I do make Seven thousand or Seven thousand five hundred naira daily, but now it takes God’s grace to make One thousand five hundred naira a day, now I’ll have to run my customers and plead with them before they can patronize me”.
“Government promised most of us that are of old age to established us but then we didn’t get any money, those they send didn’t deliver it, the condom that government give us freely before, they don’t give us again, everything is now money and so cost.”
“Everything we buy this day is very costly, even condoms which is not supposed to be so, customers always flow in and flow out here in our brothel, but now as you can see, no any customer since, and it because they don’t have money, no good job that can fetch them the satisfactory amount, some are even unemployed, and we have children at home, we came here for things to become better but things are even getting worst”
“Although, youth that do patronize us very well can’t have a blissful home, and whenever we see young adults coming near us we try to send them away not to destroy their lives”
“Things are costly, even kerosene, I can’t eat satisfactorily again. I have four children, to send one of them to school is war, if someone patronizes me I’ll thank God”.
“Nigeria doesn’t let us know our right, can someone that doesn’t have money have right?”
“I can’t eat what I wish to eat, my children are in Benin city, I don’t have money to send to them, all my children are suffering and I’m also suffering, I need help.”
“Things are no longer normal, no money in Nigeria, and our government is not helping the situation at all.”
In an interview with those living around the brothel, a woman said though she is living in this brothel area she cannot let any of her children live there, they only come to visit her.
One of the residents who lived close by said “Although some have reasons for going into prostitution while some don’t, no matter how good the reasons may be, prostitution should not be the way out you will seek, because the adverse effect is greater than any benefit you may derive from it. A woman who is into prostitution can’t take care of their family, it tells on their children, they’ll lack home training, and grow wayward; it pollutes our girls, ladies and women. Some may even join them out of emulation in the way they spend money, and these are the future of Nigeria.”
A psychologist, Dr. Oluwafisayo Adebimpe said “Commercial sex workers are women with a natural desire that needs to be addressed positively in time of child-rearing, they believe they have a future through their children, but they missed it because they are not doing the right thing.”
She explained that commercial sex workers’ children are underprivileged, susceptible, sidelined, discriminated against, stigmatized, and limited attention is been paid to them in society. They become victims of their circumstances, their children are often raised in brothels which exposed them at a tender age to what they are not supposed to, paedophilia can take advantage of them even at the prepubescent stage and this will affect their psychological state, their mental health is at stake, they are exposed to abuse, violence and anti-social element which put the future of the country in a jeopardy.
Opeyemi Adewale
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