The Nigerian state, as represented by the government, is being exceptionally unfair to prostitutes. Calm down and hear out the case. It is not as if the government has done better with any other segment of citizenry, anyway, except, perhaps, some in politics, but no matter. Let no one make light of the case of prostitutes here – the professionals, not the political variety. The concern here, is predicated on the premise that Injury to one set of citizens, is injury to all.
Now consider this; some time towards the end of 2024, some seemingly serious-minded, decent men, by which is meant men in corporate suit and the such, took to national television live discussion programmes, to make case for “rebasing” of the Nigerian economy. The promoters were mainly from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The concept of rebasing an economy is not new. Essentially, it refers to updating the basics in the calculation of activities within an economy, to reflect sundry changes. It remains a contentious exercise, though, with questions about its essence. Among the arguments put forward to support rebasing the Nigerian in 2025, was that it is overdue. The usual circle for such exercise, was said to be to ten years. The last such exercise in Nigeria, they said, was about 18 years ago or thereabout. As at the time the pitching on television was launched, the process of the “rebasing” was already on, actually.
There was ample ground for scepticism in many, about the said rebasing exercise. People could easily guess where the initiative for the exercise came from, and where it was headed. It was not difficult to identify the government and its propaganda machinery, with the whole rebasing idea. For one, the economic policies of the Tinubu government had tanked, largely, in spite of straight-faced optimism expressed by government officials. Inflation rate was standing at 34.8%, with signs that things could get worse. Unemployment rate was also dismal, standing at 35%. Life, for average citizens had become unbearable. In the face of this obvious difficult prospect, the Tinubu government’s response followed a pattern that has become its trademark; it elected to resort to public communication initiatives of sweet-coating the cracks. It could not have been a coincidence therefore, that the idea to rebase the economy came at this juncture. Understandably, the rebasing scheme was met with broad scepticism.
The media enlightenment, by officials of the National Bureau of Statistics, on the need to rebase the economy, was quite interesting. Among the major reasons adduced for the programme was that some very productive segments of the Nigerians economy had not appropriately been captured in the past, as contributors to the wealth of the nation. These sectors, the NBS officials explained, are mainly in the informal sector of the economy. They however, constitute vital contributors into the revenue basket of the country. Among these informal key economic players, are prostitutes, according the National Bureau of Statistics experts. The others are beggars.
These key productive segments, the experts said, had been missed out in past calibration of the base of the Nigerian economy, leading to distortions. Consequently, those economic powerhouses will be appropriately captured, in the newly rebased calibration. That will help provide the true picture of the state of the Nigerian economy, so said the experts.
At this point, there was no doubt any more, that the government was determined to be as creative as can be, in presenting a picture of the economy that will definitely not represent the reality.
It was only a matter of time, before the expected fruit of the rebased economy arrived. When, earlier this year, the official statistics of the rebased economy from NBS came forth, with unemployment rate tumbling down from 35% to 5%, it was clear that the prostitutes and the beggars had finally arrived the market. The inflation rate was also marked down to 24.48% from the previous 34.8%.
For the prostitutes, it must have been a case of God working in mysterious ways. Who could have guessed that it will take such sublime economic management scheme as rebasing the economy, for their age-long effort to be acknowledged as a key contributor in the national economy?
Only last week, new statistics out of Lagos state, seem to lend support to the rising place of prostitutes in the Nigerian economy, as promoted by the NBS. The newly released Lagos statistics declared an astounding sum of N661 billion, as what men spent in 2024, in Lagos alone, in what has been garishly dubbed by some, as the sex economy. Going by these statistics, Lagos is unarguably, the sex capital of the country. That should be a matter for another day. The veracity of the research findings, needs further interrogation, though.
Inspired, as it were, by their new reckoning in the scheme of the national economy, prostitutes in the Federal Capital Territory, approached the court in Abuja, about the same time in late 2024, and sought that the FCT Minister and the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) be stopped from harassing, intimidating, arresting and prosecting them”.
What the prostitutes were saying in effect, is that being partner in national economic development, with such institutions as the FCT, it makes no sense that the FCT Minister and his officials should be behaving as if they do not know them. They asked the court to secure their fundamental human rights and the rights to undertake their business in the territory without hinderance.
The basis for their case is straightforward; if their money is good enough for the common purse, as the NBS has attested, then their right to earn the money must be granted and secured. Alas, Justice James Omotosho, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, did not think so. Obviously not reckoning with whatever the shenanigans of rebasing may be, at the National Bureau for Statistics, or the government, Justice Omotosho took the body of prostitutes (no pun intended), to the cleaners.
Justice Omotosho was unsparing in his judgment last week. He could not temper his disgust and anger at the temerity of prostitutes to approach the court to ask for protection. He described prostitution as a very immoral enterprise which is not reckoned with by any culture in the country and bluntly declared that prostitutes have no legal rights to enjoy in the laws and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Justice not only dismissed the case by the prostitutes, he said “It is indeed shameful that the applicant should file an action like this. The women suspected of engaging in sex work on the streets of Abuja or prostitutes or vagabonds are by their actions committing an offence and thus their fundamental rights can be legally breached by the respondent”.
This is where matters arose, for some fair-minded persons. Is it fair for the government (duly represented by the National Bureau of Statistics) to find prostitutes and their resources worthy contributors to the national economy, only for the court to dismiss them, as vagabonds,” liable to be arrested and prosecuted for a jail term of two years”, for being a nuisance, “promoting immorality and the spread of sexual diseases”, in the words of the judge?
Justice Omotosho’s verdict can be identified with, by most reasonable persons in the society. Prostitution may be the oldest profession, as it is referred to, tongue in cheek, but it remains a disrespectable, anti-social enterprise, that will always thrive in dark alleys.
But now, what is to be done about the rebased economy of Nigeria, that shows better official ratings and figures (on paper), courtesy of what prostitutes bring to the table, among others? Reference to NBS officials.
This, is what desperation to find silver lining in a dark tunnel, can lead a government to. Maybe it is time to act in honesty and return the performance statistics of the national economy to their true standing. This matter of prostitutes being “appropriately captured” as major productive contributors to the economy, is at once disingenuous and disgusting. Justice Omotosho was as embarrassed and offended as the country at large, ought to be.
In truth, the prostitutes are not to blame. What is fair is fair. If their seedy business is now reckoned with as a vital contributor to economic development, to the point of impacting on the standing of the Nigerian economy, as NBS says, then FCT authorities and relevant law enforcement agencies across the country, should let them be.
Maybe the National Bureau of Statistics should leave the income of prostitutes for them. If the only way Nigeria’s economy under the present government, can be calibrated and rebased to show positive indicators of growth, is by “appropriately capturing” the contribution of prostitutes, the old, gloomy statistics should suffice.