The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said females were the prime targets for trafficking for prostitution in 2019 with a total of 373 females.
This is contained in the 7th Edition of the NBS Demographic Statistics Bulletin, 2021 released in Abuja.
The statistical bulletin presents an updated version of previous key demographic indicators such as population, trafficking in persons, fertility, mortality, reproductive health issues, and health records of births and deaths from 2018-2020.
It said the reported cases of trafficking in persons for prostitution were more in 2019, with a total of 373 females, aged 18 and 27.
The report, however, showed that in 2020, there was a significant reduction of recorded cases of female prostitution to 262, aged 18 and 27, while two males were recorded within the year for a similar age group.
The report said in terms of the number of trafficked persons, a total of 1,152 were recorded in 2019, and 1,087 in 2020, with a higher proportion of women trafficked over the period.
The report said the incidence of trafficked persons within the period under review showed that external trafficking for sexual exploitation was of a higher proportion compared to internal trafficking.
“This is particularly found to be common among persons aged 18 and above and peculiar to females than males.’’
The report said child abuse was disproportionately higher among females compared to their male counterparts, as seen in 2019 with 110 females and 21 males, aged one to 17.
It said 142 females and 47 males were recorded in 2020, while forced marriage recorded the least case within the same period.