I know what you are thinking. Gold digger. Ashawo. Lazy girl looking for easy money. I used to think the same thing until life humbled me. I am 24. I lost my father at 19. My mother sells tomatoes in Garki market. I gained admission to study Nursing, but there was no money for fees after my second year. I tried waitressing. I tried hairdressing. I tried selling clothes online. The money was not enough to survive and study. Then I met him at a lounge in Wuse. 52 years old. Senator's friend. Separated. He offered to pay my school fees, rent a small apartment for me, and give me a monthly allowance. In exchange? Companionship. Dinners. Trips. And yes, sex. I said yes. That was two years ago. I graduate next month. I have no student debt. I have a savings account. I have a plan to leave Abuja and start fresh where nobody knows me. I am not proud. I am not pretending this is empowerment. It is survival sex with better branding. But I am tired of the moralizing from a society that offers no safety nets and then condemns those who find private lifelines. Where was the government when I needed tuition? Where were the scholarships for the fatherless? Where were the churches when I was starving? The men who judge me? Many of them cheat on their wives with girls like me. The women who judge me? Many of them married for money and call it "God's will." We are all negotiating. Some of us are just honest about the price. Would you rather a young woman does this temporarily to escape poverty, or should she suffer "with dignity" and never escape? Let's have a real conversation, not a religious one.
