SHOCKING: Nigerian Sex Workers Demand Recognition, Say Sex Is Job Too

As the world marks the 14th International Sex Worker’s Rights Day today, Nigerian sex workers have joined their counterparts in some countries to demand for legal recognition of their trade as a job.

Some of the prostitutes are sure that the time had come for the Nigerian government to grant them their due recognition and further recognise that as human beings trying to keep body and soul going, the ‘profession’ should be considered legitimate enough to put a stop to its discrimination and stigmatisation.

Though many of them did not realise that a day like this was set aside for them until they were told, they also called on rights activists to assist them gain the desired recognition.

“See, many people, including you, do not see us as human beings. In your mind, we are a condemned set of Nigerians who sell their bodies so cheaply, but that thought is not right,” Jane, a lady from eastern Nigeria who operates at a brothel close to the railwayline in Agege, told the correspondent.

Her colleague, a 27-year old from southern Nigeria, said with their rights recognised, they could pay tax to the government and to be seen as decent people in the society.

“In some countries abroad, sex workers pay taxes. There is no discrimination, they can sue and even have streets, mainly in red light districts allocated to them to carry out their trades.

But here in Nigeria, we are faced with rejection from the society, serious harassment by the police, and victimisation by our customers.

You can imagine a customer who rushes into this place in a desperate bid to ease himself, jumps at one of us after a bargain and rides like a horse only to renege on the agreement on how much he should pay.

If we have our rights, we could call for his arrest without shame or molestation from security agents and other Nigerians,” she explained.

In a brothel just a few meters away, another sex worker, Judith, told our correspondent that many prostitutes have various reasons for taking up the “business.”

In her own case, she had travelled out of the country primarily to “hustle in Spain. But I was deported even before reaching the place.

“It was a tough experience and I started sleeping with men as we moved from one country to another just to get money to survive.

I stayed two months in Morocco gathering money, but just days to my entering Spain, I was caught with other 80 women and men and sent back to Nigeria.