Lagos — Seventeen female undergraduates of different higher institutions in Nigeria were among 110 commercial sex workers paraded by the police yesterday at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters, Ikeja. Among them were students studying law and medicine.

This staggering number of students involved in prostitution on the streets of Lagos has thus raised the moral question of the uprightness of Nigerian girls in higher institutions.

The prostitutes were all arrested in a single day (Sunday) at different spots in the Lagos metropolis at odd hours of the night. Some of them were picked up at Victoria Island, Kuramo Beach, Ikoyi, Apapa, and Allen Avenue. The others were arrested along the popular commercial sex joints at Ipodo, Ikeja. During a parade by the Lagos Police PRO, Mr. Ighodalo, 17 of the prostitutes claimed to be students.

Among those arrested were a medical student of the University of Calabar (names withheld) and another Law student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) (names withheld). A sizeable chunk of those who claimed to be students said they were from Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) and Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo. One of them claimed to be an OND Business Administration student of Yabatech.

Speaking on the arrests of the prostitutes, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Young Arebamen, said the arrest was carried out in obedience to the Inspector-General of Police's order that prostitutes operating in the states should be flushed out.

He blamed the prostitutes for the spread of the deadly Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), saying everything will be done to rid Lagos of prostitutes.

"If we must check AIDS, we must check these people as they are the purveyors of AIDS", he added.

Mr. Arebamen affirmed that prostitution is an offence under Section 231 of the Criminal Code. He added that all those arrested will be charged to court today.

Some of the arrested student prostitutes who spoke with P.M.News said it was their first time out on the streets. According to Isioma John, "our school is closed, so I thought I should make a small money before we resume since I'm the one fending for myself".

In her own confession, Shirley Effiom attributed her involvement in the despicable pastime to the closure of her school.

"There was a riot in our school and it was closed down. So, I had to do something to take care of myself since I can't travel to my town".

On where she was arrested, she retorted: "I was arrested along Allen Avenue", Ikeja.