NCJ Number
197185
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 46 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2002 Pages: 569-585
Date Published
October 2002
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article presents the history and the trends of adolescent female prostitution in Nigeria, including a consideration of the problems caused by adolescent prostitution.
Abstract
According to the author, survival in Nigeria often means that adolescent females are forced into a life of prostitution. This article offers a descriptive study and a literature review of female adolescent prostitution in Nigeria. Historically, premarital virginity was expected and honored in Nigeria. Gradually, this tradition has been eroded as female adolescents now take part in indiscriminate sexual activities, often with the knowledge of their guardians. Female adolescent prostitution is now so rampant as to cause great embarrassment to the country. The author discusses the forms and trends that this prostitution takes, including prostitutes who work in brothels, street walkers, call girls, and part-time, or floating prostitutes. The author also discusses the trafficking of adolescent girls across international borders for the purpose of prostitution. The author explains that this form of prostitution is highly organized and carried out by syndicates. Often the girls are lured into the syndicates by the promise of improved living conditions. In the next section, the author discusses some of the main causes of prostitution in Nigeria, including economic factors and sociological factors such as rapid urbanization and high unemployment rates. The author then takes up the issue of how prostitution affects adolescent girls. The trauma of prostitution is often devastating, carrying health and psychological risks that can be impossible to overcome. Finally, in the last section, the author addresses legislative measures that have attempted to combat adolescent prostitution in Nigeria, including international instruments that contain provisions that condemn the sexual exploitation of girls and women. In conclusion, the author claims that the future of Nigeria is in crisis because it’s future nation builders, the adolescents of today, are facing disturbing and alarming rates of sexual exploitation. Notes, references