Prostitution In Nigeria

The laws regarding prostitution and the sex trade in Nigeria appear complicated. While many of the activities commonly associated with prostitution are outright criminalized , prostitution itself and the purchase of sex are not explicitly banned under the law. This situation poses a difficulty to those who wish to control the sex industry in Nigeria because many people remain unsure of the status of prostitutes and their clients under the law. Due to the ambiguity of the law, many assume that prostitution is illegal and treat sex workers accordingly. The treatment of sex workers in Nigeria has come under fire by activists groups because despite the lack of criminalization, many prostitutes still experience coercion, arrest, harassment,

In March of 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan “assented to the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015. This act updates the legislation to consider recent developments in trafficking that did not exist in previous versions of the act. Furthermore, it ensures that punishment for breaking the law corresponds with the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children. A previous amendment stated that “any person who recruits, transports, transfers, harbors or receives another person by means of threat, use of force, abduction…deception, abuse of power…will be liable for five years imprisonment or pat a N1,000,000 fine.” Though actual arrests and charges may be infrequent, evidence suggests that traffickers do occasionally face convictions. As evidence, “roughly a third of convicted traffickers received fines in lieu of prison time.” In spite of this, in Abeokuta, Ogun State a Federal High court condemned two traffickers to seven years in prison and one trafficker to five years without the possibility of paying a

As globalization increases, organized crime outfits abuse links between countries to aid trafficking endeavors. For instance, the Daily Trust found in 2004 that Nigeria is one of the top 20 countries responsible for human trafficking. In 2014, two hundred and twenty four of two thousand three hundred and forty of suspected trafficking victims in the United Kingdom were identified as Nigerian. In European capital cities, as many as sixty percent of trafficked persons are believed to be from Nigeria. Benin City and Edo State, in particular, have been pinpointed as key areas for recruitment by traffickers. Some estimates suggest trafficking victims from Edo State comprise up to ninety-two percent of all Nigerian trafficked persons. Trafficking into Nigeria is also a crucial issue. Children from West Africa—Benin, Ghana, and Togo—are forced to work in Nigeria’s granite