Pictured below is a proud Nigerian prostitute named Patoo Abraham who led a protest for sex workers' rights in Lagos recently.

Patoo Abraham has become famous for
fighting for the rights of prostitutes, but
what she - and those she is trying to help
- do to make a living is illegal and
frowned upon by many in the country.
Abraham is not only proud of her
profession but is also campaigning to
ensure that prostitution is legalised and
that sex workers are respected in Africa's
most populous country.

The 48-year-old has led a couple of
protests in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial
capital, demanding the rights of
prostitutes in a country where sex
vendors suffer physical harm at the hands
of their punters.

Under the auspices of different organisations, scores of prostitutes marched on the streets of Lagos, chanting provocative slogans. This boldness is unprecedented, and the protesters carried their signature red umbrellas and T-shirts with the inscription "Sex work is work, we need our rights." "We are tired of dying in silence," Abraham, who heads the Nigerian chapter of African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA), told Al Jazeera. "We want to be able to practise our profession with pride like every other person. We want an end to name-calling and stigmatisation. We are sex workers and not asawo [a Yoruba derogatory name for prostitutes]."

Sex work, said Abraham, is normal work and
that there are "sex workers everywhere under one form of disguise or the other". "[The] government should stop criminalising our work," said the woman who is also the
president of the Women of Power Initiative
(WOPI), a non-governmental organisation
established to advance the cause of sex work in Nigeria.

Although Nigeria has posted impressive
economic growth, overtaking South Africa to
become Africa's largest economy,
unemployment remains widespread and many Nigerian women have ended up working as prostitutes in part because they cannot find work.

Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in
April that no fewer than 5.3 million youths are jobless, and the World Bank last year put the number of Nigerians living in destitution at 100 million.

Sister's advice
With large earrings and a face flamboyantly
made up, Abraham sat in her busy office,
which she shares with another organisation,
and told Al Jazeera how she took the advice of her sister, a former prostitute, when life as a single parent became too tough for her.
Though reluctant then, she now sees it as any other business and has no regrets.

"Just as you are proud of your profession,
that is how I am proud of mine. Just as you
are respected for being a journalist, that is
how I want to be respected," said Abraham.

Abraham uses the pseudonym "Patoo" in her daily work - a name she chose to hide her identity when she began work as a prostitute.
She said her two children - a son and a
daughter - are at university and she pays
tuition fees for them. They do not know her
occupation, she said, although she marched on the streets of Lagos for all to see.

In this oil-rich country of more than 160
million people ravaged by poverty and
deprivation, Abraham's work seems lucrative. But Abraham and other women in this business still have the authorities and people to contend with.

One of the prostitutes who identified herself only as Janet, spoke of how police arrest them indiscriminately, raiding their brothel even when they are with their clients.
"Sometimes, after reluctantly paying for our
services, they arrest us and take us to the
[police] station and ask us to bail ourselves
with the same amount they paid us, thereby
recovering their money," Janet said in pidgin English.

"Some of us sustain serious injuries when our customers beat us up and there is no one to protect us," she added.
Other women raise even more serious
complaints. Outspoken and HIV-positive, 35-
year-old Ayide, the only name she gave in
order to be quoted, attended one of the
rallies and said it is not only the police to
blame.

"When we talk about police, we are pointing
accusing fingers at only one group. The fact is that all the uniformed men, especially the
mobile police [paramilitary arm of the police], are oppressing us. They use their uniform to harass us. They extort money from us, beat us and rape us," she said. Abraham corroborated the claims of Janet and Ayide, saying that people who stigmatised them and the security agents who harassed them were a serious problem.
"People call us names but the funny thing is
that they don't even know if their wives,
sisters or daughters are one of us," she said
in-between laughter.
"If I don't tell you that I am a sex worker, you won’t know unless you see me here. Most of us are working as nurses in big hospitals, some are bankers and even students, but you won’t know."

Raids on brothels
Philip Eze, the police officer in charge of Elere Police Division, Lagos, explained that the police would not arrest prostitutes were it not for the country's criminal code outlawing prostitution.
"In the Nigerian criminal code, if somebody is soliciting for men, it is against the law and vice versa. The law does not cause confusions; we are the ones causing confusion in the name of the law. I don't care if they have a world association, it is illegal in Nigeria and their assembly is illegal too," Eze said.

Responding to allegations of extortion, sexual harassment, and rape by police, Eze said victims should report such cases and the offenders would be prosecuted.
"Even though they are prostitutes, they have
every right to report rape and other human
right abuses," he told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, the fight between prostitutes and the authorities continue.

Police occasionally raid brothels in Lagos and make sweeping arrests in red light areas like Kofo Abayomi, Victoria Island, Isaac John Street, and Allen Avenue.
Some of the lucky prostitutes end up in police cells where they are interrogated and
eventually released on bail. Others end up
serving jail terms of three to four months
without an option of paying a fine after being charged for loitering, public indecency or disorderly conduct or engaging in acts inimical to the public good.

To stage the protest to mark the International Sex Workers Rights Day 2014 without a clash with the authorities, the prostitutes outsmarted the police, obtaining a permit under the auspices of WOPI.
They took their demands to the authorities at Shomolu Local Government, Lagos, where
they were advised that legislators held the key to their demand.

Previous attempts by lawmakers to have
prostitution legalised were unsuccessful.
In 2011, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, called for the complete legalisation of prostitution, saying this would enable the government to regulate the activities of prostitutes. The move sparked widespread criticism across the country and Ekweremadu later regretted his comment.
But Margaret Onah, the founder of Safe Haven Development Initiative and WOPI, who has campaigned for the rights of prostitutes, said she is still planning to take protests to the national assembly, and push for legislation that will decriminalise sex work and empower women.

"Nigerian law does not specifically say
anything against prostitution," Onah said.
"What it says is that if a girl is caught openly
soliciting for sex, and money is being
exchanged, she should be arrested. But we
know that if a girl is staying in a brothel, and is a sex worker, the brothel is more or less like her home

This pix is not from 9ja op.

Op you must be high on crack!

Invite me when the sex workers start ffuck and win promo

Ashawo no be work!

Balkan: This pix is not from 9ja op.

Nobleval: Op you must be high on crack!

Something tells me you're both Ibolas. You better go and join your people in solidarity

"Sometimes, after reluctantly paying for our
services, they arrest us and take us to the
[police] station and ask us to bail ourselves
with the same amount they paid us, thereby
recovering their money,"

You cant beat the members of Nigeria Police, see how they seek for pleasure free of charge. They dont ever want to pay for anything. They should have just claimed "Staff" as they do in public commercial buses rather than first paying for services rendered, then arrest the ladies and ask them for bail with the same amount they initially paid.

For all those crying fake news...here is the "sauce". Enjoy

m.aljazeera.com/se/2014723141235936593

vicadex07:



Something tells me you're both Ibolas. You better go and join your people in solidarity

kid. Have you heard that I don't talk to street urchins on NL?

they should be granted the right to practice their profession and pay tax as well.

Shame on Yorubas!

"People call us names but the funny thing is
that they don't even know if their wives,
sisters or daughters are one of us," she said
in-between laughter."

Hmmmm.... Boys need to be careful

Sex work is work. They should have their rights too

0rlando0woh: Shame on Yorubas!

Didirin

Ashawo oni yeye

0rlando0woh: Shame on Yorubas!

What's wrong with your brain? Did you see anywhere on the article where all the harlóts protesting were Yorubas? Are there no hàrlots littered all over the world? Don't you know próstitution is not tribe/race-specific? The way you bigots display your idiocy shocks the living daylight out of me.

0rlando0woh: Shame on Yorubas!

That woman is Igbo. Igbo girls are known for prostition. There is no brothel you go to in Nigeria that you won't find Igbo girls in larger number. It is the same thing in Ikenga Hotel, Ogbomosho; Dwellers, Enerhen - Warri.

.

Where the f^uck is your sauce source? Tho there are Keke around to have me think it's Nigeria, I still doubt. Prostitution should be legalized!

I don't see anytin wrong giving dem their right..thats the work thye choose and proud of it

Homosexuals are asking for right to f..k men's arsse, now prostitutes are asking for their rights too, watch out world, things are gonna get creepier.

vicadex07: Pictured below is a proud Nigerian prostitute named Patoo Abraham who led a protest for sex workers' rights in Lagos recently.

Patoo Abraham has become famous for
fighting for the rights of prostitutes, but
what she - and those she is trying to help
- do to make a living is illegal and
frowned upon by many in the country.
Abraham is not only proud of her
profession but is also campaigning to
ensure that prostitution is legalised and
that sex workers are respected in Africa's
most populous country.

The 48-year-old has led a couple of
protests in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial
capital, demanding the rights of
prostitutes in a country where sex
vendors suffer physical harm at the hands
of their punters.

Under the auspices of different organisations, scores of prostitutes marched on the streets of Lagos, chanting provocative slogans. This boldness is unprecedented, and the protesters carried their signature red umbrellas and T-shirts with the inscription "Sex work is work, we need our rights." "We are tired of dying in silence," Abraham, who heads the Nigerian chapter of African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA), told Al Jazeera. "We want to be able to practise our profession with pride like every other person. We want an end to name-calling and stigmatisation. We are sex workers and not asawo [a Yoruba derogatory name for prostitutes]."

Sex work, said Abraham, is normal work and
that there are "sex workers everywhere under one form of disguise or the other". "[The] government should stop criminalising our work," said the woman who is also the
president of the Women of Power Initiative
(WOPI), a non-governmental organisation
established to advance the cause of sex work in Nigeria.

Although Nigeria has posted impressive
economic growth, overtaking South Africa to
become Africa's largest economy,
unemployment remains widespread and many Nigerian women have ended up working as prostitutes in part because they cannot find work.

Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in
April that no fewer than 5.3 million youths are jobless, and the World Bank last year put the number of Nigerians living in destitution at 100 million.

Sister's advice
With large earrings and a face flamboyantly
made up, Abraham sat in her busy office,
which she shares with another organisation,
and told Al Jazeera how she took the advice of her sister, a former prostitute, when life as a single parent became too tough for her.
Though reluctant then, she now sees it as any other business and has no regrets.

"Just as you are proud of your profession,
that is how I am proud of mine. Just as you
are respected for being a journalist, that is
how I want to be respected," said Abraham.

Abraham uses the pseudonym "Patoo" in her daily work - a name she chose to hide her identity when she began work as a prostitute.
She said her two children - a son and a
daughter - are at university and she pays
tuition fees for them. They do not know her
occupation, she said, although she marched on the streets of Lagos for all to see.

In this oil-rich country of more than 160
million people ravaged by poverty and
deprivation, Abraham's work seems lucrative. But Abraham and other women in this business still have the authorities and people to contend with.

One of the prostitutes who identified herself only as Janet, spoke of how police arrest them indiscriminately, raiding their brothel even when they are with their clients.
"Sometimes, after reluctantly paying for our
services, they arrest us and take us to the
[police] station and ask us to bail ourselves
with the same amount they paid us, thereby
recovering their money," Janet said in pidgin English.

"Some of us sustain serious injuries when our customers beat us up and there is no one to protect us," she added.
Other women raise even more serious
complaints. Outspoken and HIV-positive, 35-
year-old Ayide, the only name she gave in
order to be quoted, attended one of the
rallies and said it is not only the police to
blame.

"When we talk about police, we are pointing
accusing fingers at only one group. The fact is that all the uniformed men, especially the
mobile police [paramilitary arm of the police], are oppressing us. They use their uniform to harass us. They extort money from us, beat us and rape us," she said. Abraham corroborated the claims of Janet and Ayide, saying that people who stigmatised them and the security agents who harassed them were a serious problem.
"People call us names but the funny thing is
that they don't even know if their wives,
sisters or daughters are one of us," she said
in-between laughter.
"If I don't tell you that I am a sex worker, you won’t know unless you see me here. Most of us are working as nurses in big hospitals, some are bankers and even students, but you won’t know."

Raids on brothels
Philip Eze, the police officer in charge of Elere Police Division, Lagos, explained that the police would not arrest prostitutes were it not for the country's criminal code outlawing prostitution.
"In the Nigerian criminal code, if somebody is soliciting for men, it is against the law and vice versa. The law does not cause confusions; we are the ones causing confusion in the name of the law. I don't care if they have a world association, it is illegal in Nigeria and their assembly is illegal too," Eze said.

Responding to allegations of extortion, sexual harassment, and rape by police, Eze said victims should report such cases and the offenders would be prosecuted.
"Even though they are prostitutes, they have
every right to report rape and other human
right abuses," he told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, the fight between prostitutes and the authorities continue.

Police occasionally raid brothels in Lagos and make sweeping arrests in red light areas like Kofo Abayomi, Victoria Island, Isaac John Street, and Allen Avenue.
Some of the lucky prostitutes end up in police cells where they are interrogated and
eventually released on bail. Others end up
serving jail terms of three to four months
without an option of paying a fine after being charged for loitering, public indecency or disorderly conduct or engaging in acts inimical to the public good.

To stage the protest to mark the International Sex Workers Rights Day 2014 without a clash with the authorities, the prostitutes outsmarted the police, obtaining a permit under the auspices of WOPI.
They took their demands to the authorities at Shomolu Local Government, Lagos, where
they were advised that legislators held the key to their demand.

Previous attempts by lawmakers to have
prostitution legalised were unsuccessful.
In 2011, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy Senate President of Nigeria, called for the complete legalisation of prostitution, saying this would enable the government to regulate the activities of prostitutes. The move sparked widespread criticism across the country and Ekweremadu later regretted his comment.
But Margaret Onah, the founder of Safe Haven Development Initiative and WOPI, who has campaigned for the rights of prostitutes, said she is still planning to take protests to the national assembly, and push for legislation that will decriminalise sex work and empower women.

"Nigerian law does not specifically say
anything against prostitution," Onah said.
"What it says is that if a girl is caught openly
soliciting for sex, and money is being
exchanged, she should be arrested. But we
know that if a girl is staying in a brothel, and is a sex worker, the brothel is more or less like her home

no?

In Amsterdam they have rights....

BedLam: Where the f^uck is your sauce source? Tho there are Keke around to have me think it's Nigeria, I still doubt. Prostitution should be legalized!

Which 4fukin source are you lookin for again? The shiit is on Aljazeera. Google it yourself

lepasharon: In Amsterdam they have rights....

I.E. They should have rights here too

see nigeria poblem here https://www.nairaland.com/1843230/say-no-only-attitude-govment#25233477

Prostîtution should be legalized and regulated. Banning it just drives it underground and makes the women more vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking violence and even murder. Dis-empowering these women further is the exact opposite of what society should be doing. If you want to reduce prostîtution, you must first bring it out in the open.

Besides there is really nothing wrong with selling sex as long as both parties are adults and know what they are doing. People do it all the time: sugar daddies/mummies, trophy wives, regular wives and girlfriends who demand money or gifts. It may offend some people's religious sensibilities, but that is not a reason to ban anything as Boko Haram is clearly showing us. The HIV and STD issue is easily solved by enforcing mandatory condom use. The real problem with prostîtution is the activities that tend to surround it like pîmping, street-walking, violence and human-trafficking. But all of these things are made worse by criminalizing prostîtution and can be better dealt with by strong regulations and allowing these women to call for help when in trouble and stand up to people who try to exploit them without fear of being arrested.

The only reason prostîtution is still illegal is because people in government blindly follow religious doctrine and refuse to use their brains to pass sensible law that can make society better for everyone.

vicadex07:

I.E. They should have rights here too

Just sayin

First it was Gay right now Prostitutes next will be Kidnappers then ritualist and finally suicide Bombers.



[B]Grant them all after all Gay supporters claimed that what two adult does in private does not concern anyone[/b]

OrlandoOwoh:
That woman is Igbo. Igbo girls are known for prostition. There is no brothel you go to in Nigeria that you won't find Igbo girls in larger number. It is the same thing in Ikenga Hotel, Ogbomosho; Dwellers, Enerhen - Warri; Cool breeze and all the hotels in Azikiwe Street, PH; Niger Hotel, Ile-Ife and one in Ilesha.

Now what makes you a saint when you go to patronize them secretely and come here to condemn them publicly? I'm asking you! YES you!!!

mrking3: Now what makes you a saint when you go to patronize them secretely and come here to condemn them publicly? I'm asking you! YES you!!!

I don't patronize them neither do I do"it." I'm only a researcher.