The rise of affordable smartphones, encrypted messaging apps, and mobile payment systems is reshaping Nigeria’s underground sex industry, pushing much of the trade from street corners and brothels onto digital platforms.
From X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram groups, technology is giving sex workers and traffickers new tools to advertise, transact, and operate more discreetly—while also complicating law enforcement and raising fresh concerns about exploitation and public safety.
Although the Nigerian Constitution does not explicitly criminalise prostitution, the frequent arrest and harassment of sex workers across the country create the widespread perception that sex work is an offence in Nigeria. In practice, the surrounding laws and enforcement actions make the trade unsafe and effectively unlawful. However, this applies only to southern Nigeria, as the Penal Code of the north forbids prostitution, especially in states that subscribe to Shariah Law.
Smartphones, social media, and encrypted chats are reshaping how sex services are marketed, arranged, delivered, and monetised in Nigeria, whether consensual adult sex work and exploitative/illegal activity (e.g., trafficking, child sexual abuse material), which often blur online, and this leaves a big gap in the exposure of teenagers.
Ngozi***, who’s in her late 30s, has lived through chapters that many only scroll past on social media.
An aspiring designer with a National Diploma in Art and Design from The Polytechnic Ibadan, she was already ticking the right boxes to achieve her long-term dream of becoming one of the best designers in Nigeria. Still, it all came crashing down in 2011 when she had to drop out due to financial constraints. With bills piling up and no job, Ngozi was introduced into the dark world of digital sex trade, commonly referred to as ‘hookup’.
“I only wanted to do it for a few months to raise enough funds for further studies, but here I am 14 years later, and I’ve seen it all,” she said.
“No money to continue, no helper. Where I wan see school fees? Na so I stop. Certificate no dey cook soup!” Ngozi found her first client on Facebook. However, she also sources clients through various ways.
Not every experience was good. She recalled how a particular man almost used her for a ritual. “One guy wey I meet for Facebook,” she said slowly, “na ritualist. I no know. Na God save me.”
Ngozi is bisexual. “I’ve been with both men and women. But I think I prefer women now. They understand pain better,” she said.
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