Prostitution among female undergraduates
A university professor, Elizabeth
Balogun, on Wednesday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, raised the alarm over the
high incidence of prostitution among female undergraduates in the
country. Balogun described as disheartening the
current situation where prostitution, which used to be a
vocation for
independent adult ladies in brothels and back alleys, had spread to
tertiary institutions in the country.
She spoke at a seminar organised by the
National Association of Nigerian Students to mark the 31st anniversary
of the association.
According to her, the rising wave of prostitution among female undergraduates has become worrisome.
She stressed that the menace now ranked
higher than other social vices, including cultism on campuses of the
nation’s higher institutions.
Balogun, a Biochemistry teacher at the
University of Ilorin, said some of the campus prostitutes had become so
shameless and bold that they leave “their profile, photo albums and
phone contacts with hotel operators near their campuses for calls
whenever ‘suitors’ demand their illicit services.”
She stated that the majority of the
students were initiated into the trade following their membership of
cult groups like the Black Bra and Pink Ladies.
She said, “There is no doubt that
prostitution in the long run corrupts the quality of the nation’s future
leaders and affects their values. Understanding that young females
constitute appreciable percentage of the nation’s population, little
could be expected from them productively if they had been turned into
cheap sexual machines, with warped self-esteem and self-actualisation.
“Inordinate desire for affluence and
desperation by many Nigerians, especially ladies lure them to engage in
immoral and illicit activities, despite high level of religiousness
which Nigerians overtly demonstrate. Even the present scourge of
HIV/AIDS and the menace of ritual killers that find easy prey among
prostitutes, have not been strong enough to curb the rising trend of the
practice.”
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