Following the spate of police raids in the country’s capital territory, where over 3,000 prostitutes have been arrested, sex workers have reportedly thronged the streets of Abuja requesting that prostitution be legalized.
The sex workers rallied under the slogans, “Legalize prostitution now” and “Allow us to hustle for our daily bread”, protesting harassment from law enforcement agencies.
It would be recalled, in the last 3 months, more than three thousand commercial sex workers have been arrested in Abuja in raids carried out by the Special Task Force on City Cleaning and Management.
The women standing in for the National Association of Nigerian Prostitutes expressed their disappointment at what they call indiscriminate arrests and the way they are molested by different task forces on a daily basis.
One of the women, who preferred anonymity said: “We are Nigerians too and we only go about seeking our daily livelihood, so I see no reason why they should be harassing, arresting us and extorting money from us.”
“These same men are the ones who patronize us but during the day, they will be molesting us. What crimes have we committed? Many of us are graduates who could not secure jobs, so we hustle to make ends meet. We have families and responsibilities to meet, so they should allow us to work and make money.”
The association also claimed that they were better people than thieves and corrupt politicians.
They urged the government to either legalize prostitution or provide them with some decent jobs.
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