DIARY OF A COMMERCIAL SEX WORKER Dear diary, I woke up today to the smell of marijuana and rattling of bangles, Barbie my flat mate was at it again. I took out my ipad and checked what I had planned for the day. I had a meeting with the chief security officer of Chevron and also a late meeting with Alhaji Waziri at the presidential Hotel. If u ask me, I will say today was a busy day because I also had to make a quick stop to the gynecologist.ive been feeling weak and having nausea as well, this is not a good sign for a person in my profession. You can call me a prostitute, but I prefer to be called a commercial sex worker, I deal with the high and mighty in the society or how else am I supposed to get a piece of the national cake. My job requires a good command of English, a beautiful smile and the right approach to get the desired effect. To say I have been successful is an understatement and you may also wonder why I am in this line of business with my intelligence and wonderful communication skills. Well I am not ashamed or too proud to say it since the society I live in does not provide much support for girls like me. The government doesn’t care about the plight of its people, one must struggle so hard to get by everyday. A prostitute is like a psychologist, it’s important that she studies her clients to be able to milk them and that is why I know the preference of one senator to another, one business mogul to the other. I have to live this kind of life to cater for my ailing mother and 6 siblings along with my retired father who all depend on me for their daily bread. I sing, I dance, I wink, just to make my clients happy even at my own expense, after all its part of my job requirements to give solace and comfort to my clients. At a point in my career, I began to lobby for contracts as well from my clients. I didn’t care about doing the job, I just wanted the cash, so most of my projects were poorly executed. After all my country is rich, we can always rebuild. So far, two of my siblings school in one of the most prestigious universities abroad. I am fully aware of low standard of education in Nigeria, of course I schooled in Nigeria but I never graduated. I just got tired of the corruption so I chose an easier way of life. Inasmuch as I pretend not to care, I actually hope I have a better future, you know, what every girl hopes for; a good husband and a lovely family. Some say I will never get married, never have kids of my own and every single time, I pretend I don’t care. I don’t blame them for such speculations, after all I have had 6 abortions and a lot of venereal diseases. I will never allow my loved one live the kind of life I am living, it’s all fun and games until Alhaji goes home to his wife, then it hits me that I may never have such attention from anyone. Did my phone just ring? Oh its Alhaji, duty calls and I must answer………..