Patoo Abraham

Patoo Abraham (born 1966) is a Nigerian prostitute and sex workers' rights activist advocating for the legalization of sex work profession in Nigeria and the decriminalization of women in prostitution. As of 2014 she is leader of the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA) in Nigeria. She is also the President of Women of Power Initiative (WOPI), an NGO formed for the purpose of improving sex work in Nigeria. She has staged series of protests on the streets of Lagos against the abuse and disregard faced by sex workers.

Activism Abraham was involved as a member and leader of two activist organizations which advocate for the rights of sex workers and prostitutes in Africa: the Nigerian chapter of the African Sex Workers Alliance and the Women of Power Initiative.

In addition to her leading of multiple street protests in Lagos, Abraham continued to advocate for the legalization of African sex workers’ professions through her involvement in the Nigerian chapter of the ASWA and Women of Power Initiative (WOPI). Abraham served as a leader and the president of the Women of Power Initiative. Women of Power Initiative was a non-governmental organization which aimed to support the profession of sex workers. ASWA was first established in 2009, and fused together groups who desired to support sex worker rights. The groups who formed ASWA include a combination of sex workers, activists, and non-governmental organizations.

As a leader of the Nigerian branch of ASWA, Abraham helped aid the goal of speaking out for equality of African sex workers by, most notably and most recalled in news outlets, leading and participating in street protests such as in Lagos. In Yingwana’s qualitative research investigation, the ASWA was used as one of the two primary research groups being surveyed. Yingwana’s journal article was published in 2018, but the data was gathered during 2014 and 2015, which was during the time Abraham served as a leader of ASWA. The qualitative research study was published by Duke University Press, and was conducted in order to understand what it truly means to be an “African sex worker feminist." Abraham is pictured at the front of the protest, leading the rest of the participants as they march for sex-workers’ rights. Even after Abraham’s leading of multiple Lagos street protests in 2014, The Nigerian Criminal Code still states that prostitution in Nigeria is an illegal activity.