AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECT, CAUSES AND PREVALENCE OF FEMALE PROSTITUTION IN NIGERIA TERTIARY INSTITUTION

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECT, CAUSES AND PREVALENCE OF FEMALE PROSTITUTION IN NIGERIA TERTIARY INSTITUTION

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background to the Study

Prostitution has become rampant in our society today among growing teens and youths. These young people see selling of their bodies as the fastest way of getting income for their keeps. In the past those engaged in prostitution use to be women selling their bodies. However, today men have joined the trade of selling their bodies for different reasons including drugs, jobs or contracts and also good grades in exams. This is because sex consumers include politicians, bosses in offices, lecturers who find pleasure in exploiting the lower class by offering mouth-watering opportunities in exchange for sex (Alufohai, 2007). She further stated that some of the causes of prostitution are high level of poverty due to unemployment rate in the society, bribery and corruption. Family expectations and other problems are factors why men and women get involved in prostitution. Women most especially are pressured into the business to be able to cater for family and siblings education.

Prostitution leads to the spread of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), HPV (human papiloma virus), herpes amongst others. Some women suffer trauma and pelvic pains, in most cases these women are subjected to drinking and smoking to ease off the pain and this habit could cause cancer which puts their lives in more jeopardy and increases mortality rate of the country. (Alufohai, 2007)

A university don, Prof. Elizabeth Balogun, on Wednesday (2007) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, expressed her concern over the prevalence of prostitution among female undergraduates in the country. Balogun said the sex trade had become rampant on Nigerian campuses to such an extent that 80 percent of prostitutes that patronize night clubs, hotels and tourist centres in Ogun State are students of tertiary institutions. Prof. Balogun, a Biochemistry lecturer at the University of Ilorin, said this at a seminar organized by the National Association of Nigerian Students to mark its 31stanniversary where she delivered a lecture titled “Prostitution on our campuses: Effects and solutions.”

The guest speaker, who expressed regret said, “It is absurd to the level that young undergraduate lady would leave normal academic chores of attending lectures and visiting libraries for further studies during the day, only to metamorphose in the evening into a call-girl or pimp. “There is no doubt that prostitution in the long run corrupts the quality of the nation’s future leaders and affects their values. Understanding that young females constitute appreciable percentage of the nation’s population, little could be expected from them productively if they had been turned into cheap sexual machines, with warped self-esteem and self- actualization. “Inordinate desire for affluence and desperation by many Nigerians, especially ladies lure them to engage in immoral and illicit activities, despite high level of religiousness which Nigerians overtly demonstrate. Even the present scourge of HIV/AIDS and the menace of ritual killers that find easy prey among prostitutes, have not been strong enough to curb the rising trend of the practice. She urged the government to improve funding on education in order to drastically reduce cost of attaining higher education which will curb the rising trend of the practice.

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECT, CAUSES AND PREVALENCE OF FEMALE PROSTITUTION IN NIGERIA TERTIARY INSTITUTION