For years, money for sex has been a thriving business in Nigeria, particularly in the Southern part of the country. Many single mothers in the region are now taking over businesses amid the hardships in the country.
Even though commercial sexual activities are illegal in Nigeria, the industry is thriving beyond imagination. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), there are 103,506 prostitutes in Nigeria. The figure, however, might not be accurate considering the surge in the business in a more secretive way.
Meanwhile, it should be noted that there is a different form of prostitution known as ‘corporate prostitution’. This category is full of many single mothers and university students. This set of people does everything to hide their activities from the public.
Many of these prostitutes were on the streets of Mokola, in the Ibadan North West Local Government area of Oyo State. City News Nigeria correspondent who visited the region, particularly the road leading to the popular Mokola hill, learnt more about their activities.
A source who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity revealed that the street is full of hustlers (a coded word for corporate prostitutes). He urged him to walk around the street to confirm his words. Truth to his words, many young ladies between the ages of 25 and 35 on the roads were into the business.
At the front of the local brothel, the prostitutes, who dressed corporately to disguise themselves as mere workers at the brothel, approached our correspondent. They asked if he was there for fun and offered to take any amount he was ready to give them.
Amid discussion, he discovered that they only collect a minimum of N2,000 for the sex. Additionally, they demanded an extra N500 from their clients. The additional money was meant to pay for a room behind the brothel. However, they are not against taking them to hotels in the environment.
Our correspondent observed that the ladies did not address each other by their first names. They, instead, used the names of their children while addressing one another. This undoubtedly signified that many of them have children at home.
With further inquiries, some of them confirmed that they are single mothers. They blamed their actions on the economic hardship in the country.
A lady identified as Mummy Biodun claimed that she started the business to feed her two children. She claimed that she left her husband three years ago due to irreconcilable differences. According to her, the money she was earning from her previous salesgirl work was not enough to cater for her children, and her current job has made life a bit easier for the family.
Meanwhile, as a result of the economic hardship in the country, some politicians vowed to work against President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
