Just Very recently I travelled in a public transport (status not disclose). In a usual manner praying my rosary and just keeping my quiet and praying along as the journey lasted. After about 5 hours as the journey was about to end, passengers were mentioning their places to alight. One of the passengers told the driver “àá bólè ní ilé àwon asáwó yen.” Meaning I will drop at that house of prostitutes.

That caused some funny reactions inside the bus. Then one person said "enh-enh so people still prostitute" just very quickly a lady replied, "yes na o, is it not their work? They too are searching for daily food.” Lastly she concluded life in Nigeria is tough and that is what life has brought them (prostitutes) to. She said it in a convincing tone and manner that passengers gave a deep sound like "Humm humm" as though that was a motivational quote. 

I heard it and was waiting for one or two people to counter her point, but none did and she continued with some misleading convictions. I could not contain myself, before she could get away with this and mislead people I was forced to correct her misleading convictions and also to teacher some sorts of morality.

That life is hard is not a justification for immoral, illegal work. The lady in the same vehicle with me represents a lot of young people especially Nigerian youth who because of hardship have followed the path of immorality and illegality. They justify their unethical struggles with such sayings. But Before I continue, this is not only about prostitution. It cuts across all kinds of many illegal jobs and immoral life-styles. So this piece is for everyone.

To correct the notion that economic and financial hardship, lack of opportunity, victimization, social factor or even global perspective justify illegality and immortality. Personally I find such kind of argument as sloppy slide for all shades of unethical job-behavior. If a prostitute says economic hardship pushed her into sex work, and the society spares it, I see why kidnappers, bandits, oil-bunker, human-traffickers, cyber criminals should not be spared too.

Earning through unethical behavior can result in negative consequences. Accordingly, sociology scholars have paid significant attention to exploring why individuals engage in unethical behavior. For instance, employees can engage in unethical and deviant behavior that is costly to their organizations by directly obstructing organizational functioning, such as diminishing their own and/or other employees’ effectiveness on work tasks. Other unethical employee behavior includes theft, sabotage, and “slacking off”.

Earning through unethical behaviour could have several implications. Social implication, Thomas Hobbes the political philosopher talked about "the state of nature.” In his political philosophy, Thomas Hobbes conceptualizes the "state of nature" as a pre-political condition of humanity where there is no social order to enforce laws and protect individuals. He describes this state as a "war of every man against every man," life is a constant struggle for survival, driven by self-preservation and unchecked competition.

Self-preservation: The primary motivation in the state of nature is the desire to survive, leading individuals to do whatever they deem necessary to protect themselves, even if it means harming others.

 Cultural degradation, Human debasement and subordination. In the absence of a common power, there are no universally recognized moral standards or laws, and thus, actions that might be considered unjust or immoral in a civilized society are not necessarily considered so in the state of nature.

Instead of engaging in unethical jobs, there are uncrowded areas of entrepreneurship yet unexplored. I have seen a lady making and producing paints and skilled young men who started intra-city logistics and today have become international logistic company. We can learn from the CEO of Air peace, he started from land transport, today he is fly round the world. Entrepreneurs, there are ladies who are into waste management reforms, agribusiness is another area yet totally explored.

The major problem with us as young ones is that, we don’t want to start small. Small is too little for us to begin; But it doesn't work that way. Have a good idea and act greatly upon it. We can have a good society that prioritizes dignity in labour, we can have a people with human dignity. We can have a society where hardship does wreck the ship of our moral standard. We can survive without destroying Cultural heritage and values. We can earn our daily living without destroying our body. Shalom