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Tag: sex workers

  • Economic crunch: Commercial sex workers lament low patronage in Kano

    Economic crunch: Commercial sex workers lament low patronage in Kano

    The economic crunch occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy has grossly affected commercial sex workers in Kano State as they groan as a result of low patronage by their customers.

    They expressed their pains during interview in Sabon Gari area of Fagge Local Government Area of the state on Sunday.

    The sex workers in the ancient commercial city, who hitherto smile home with their pockets full, now resort to lobby customers to do “business” with them at very ridiculous low charges.

    Ms Mercy Benjamin said that before now, a round of “short time” service could be settled with N5,000 within a time frame of one hour, but the biting effects of fuel subsidy removal had forced customers to disappear.

    Benjamin said one round of sex now go for as low as between N500 and N700 for the same services.

    “Things are not really going on well with this business for now because of the present economic challenges we are facing,” she said.

    Another sex worker ,who identified herself as Jennifer, said that it is no longer
    business as usual for them, saying “my brother, business is no longer moving as it used to be.

    “Things have become so hard that if you see more than three customers in one day, you will thank God. Customers are hard to come by, and when they come, the offer is nothing to write home about.

    “In this very particular room, I pay N5,000 every day; and I must confess to you that I am owing the management three days debt now because of low patronage.

    “Before fuel subsidy removal, we were enjoying high patronage with good prices. These days, I used to attend to seven to 10 customers everyday with good prices ranging between N5,000 and N10,000 for short time services.

    “This is apart from other incentives like good food, drinks, chicken, Isi-ewu and other goodies that customers provide on their own volition.
    “Unlike now when customers hardly come to hang out in the evening, we used to have customers on day-break ready to offer well above N20,000 and also take care of your accommodation, food and drinks. This is really hardtimes for us,” she said.

    Jennifer further stated that most of her colleagues who could not pay for their rooms have returned home with regrets of penury.

    “Some of them left without their property as the hotel management seized their cloths and electronics because of the money they are owing. We that are still here are surviving through the grace of God,” she explained.

    Narrating her latest experience as a result of the cash crunch, Ms Helen Ediga at Onitsha Road, said she ready to quit the business if given alternative source of livelihood.

    Ediga, who only agreed to talk after being offered a token of N1,500 and a bottle of Maltina to cover her time, said:
    “Sir, I am not happy being into this kind of business. It is hardship that led me into it. I am a single mother with three children. I am the only one that take care of them.

    “My man left us in Kano and relocated to Abuja where he is currently staying with another woman.

    “I come out every evening to hassle so that I can put food on the table for my three children and possibly train them.

    “Since the fuel subsidy removal, we have been suffering. In most cases, I will spend the whole day without anyone asking me ‘how are you’.

    “It has been a very bitter experience. If I have other means of livelihood, I will definitely quit this business!”, Ediga said.

    It was also gathered that the sex hawkers who usually stand along Enugu Road, Aba Road, Onitsha Road and Abbedie Street, among other hotspots within Sabon Gari, are worse hit by the situation as most of them complain of staying throughout the day, scouting for customers without success.

    Findings further revealed that night clubs, fun centres and beer drinking joints now record very low patronage as residents hardly come out in the evening for relaxation or to have “good time” due to the cash crunch.

     

  • I train Nigerian sex workers on artworks in Italy – Nike Okundaye

    I train Nigerian sex workers on artworks in Italy – Nike Okundaye

    The Founder, Nike Art Gallery, Mrs Nike Okundaye, popularly known as “Mama Nike”, said she changed the narratives of 5,000 Nigerian professional sex workers through artwork training in Italy.

    Okundaye disclosed this on Thursday at the “Destination Marketing Strategy in Cultural Tourism“ organised by the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) in Abuja.

    She said that she had passion for training the trainer’s programme because she aimed at using artwork to reduce poverty, unemployment and crimes in society.

    “My love is to train and people I trained should train other people. I was in Italy training Nigerian prostitutes, 5, 000 of them. We used artwork to change 3,000 to become artists.

    “These paintings you are seeing here are the ones that started it in 1995.

    “A lot of those prostitutes are now engaged and they are no more prostitutes.

    “I was born into art, I am a fifth generation artists from my family and the way they passed education to the kids in those days, you teach your child what you do.

    “When I completed Primary Six and I did not have money to attend secondary school, the weaving of “adire“ and the painting that I learnt from my father and mother are what I am doing today.

    “I started this because of poverty but from poverty I was able to become icon in the society,”  she said.

    Okundaye urged the youth to practise what they learnt from their parents and upgrade it in a creative manner.

    “The message I have for the youth is that if your parents used akara money to train you, you have to upgrade that akara to burger.

    “Upgrade and follow your heart and do things you have learnt from your parents. Do them and create them in a good way and always think positive,” she said.

    Okundaye said since she opened the Nike Art Gallery in Abuja, youths have been coming over for training.

    “I have a training centre here since 1996. I have over 2,000 artworks in this edifice.

    “I have a lot of artists that I trained. When I trained them, they trained others and they bring their works and if we sell them, they give us 10 per cent of the total cost,” she said.

    In his remarks, the Director-General of NCAC, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, said he supported Nike Art Gallery to make it a destination market for Nigeria.

    Runsewe described arts and culture sector as public-private driven.

    He said if Nike Art Gallery was given necessary support it would go a long way in reducing unemployment and crimes in the country.

    “In most cases, we make mistakes in Africa for not recognising our own, not believing in our own and not developing our own.

    “If the private sector or an individual can put up this type of gallery, what we need as government is to support.

    “This can generate a lot of resources for the country. If you travel to other parts of the world, they have galleries like this that you will pay to visit.

    “One of the fundamental aspects of tourism is experience. Some people have never seen this number of paintings and fabric designs,” he said.

    He recalled that three weeks ago when an ambassador saw Fela’s painting, he felt like removing his dress.

    “This is because he is one of the big fans of Fela. He continued taking picture with Fela’s artwork.

    “These paintings you see are a therapy on their own. Some people when they are sick or down, this is what they use to come up.

    “We need to use what we have now to develop and promote our country. There are so many artworks here that can speak for Nigeria.

    “For me, we will support Nike Arts Gallery and make it a destination in order to market the country,” he said.

  • Bauchi Government to conduct headcount of commercial sex workers

    Bauchi Government to conduct headcount of commercial sex workers

    Bauchi State Government says it will conduct headcount of commercial sex workers in the state with a view to having an accurate data on them.
    Malam Aminu Balarabe-Isah, Permanent Commissioner in charge of Hisbah and Sharia implementation, made this known in Bauchi on Monday during a sensitisation workshop organised for commercial sex workers.
    He said the information generated from the exercise would help the commission in taking measures aimed at discouraging them from continuing with their dangerous trade.
    Isah disclosed plans by the state government to organise empowerment programmes for them, as well as provide them with capital to start small scale businesses.
    He explained that investigations conducted by his agency indicated that most of the sex workers took to prostitution as a result of illitracy, poverty or maltreatment meted on them by their step-mothers.
    He said that minor family squabbles also contributed to their decision to take to prostitution, assuring that government would make efforts to re-unite them with their parents.
    The commissioner expressed readiness of the state government to organise mass marriages for those of them who were lucky to get serious suitors.
    Hafsatu Azare, who spoke on behalf of the sex workers, assured that they were willing to quit the trade if government would empower them economically, describing their condition as pathetic.

  • BREAKING: Sex workers not essential service providers, FCT warns prostitutes

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has warned sex workers to keep off roads and stop rendering their unholy trade to their customers until the COVID-19 restriction is lifted.

    Chairman, FCT Task Team on COVID-19, Ikharo Attah, handed down the warning on Saturday while monitoring compliance with the regulations at Kubwa, Gwarimpa and Wuse areas of the nation’s capital.

    Speaking to journalists after the operation, Attah said, “The ban on nightclubs, parks and bars is yet to be lifted, hence the need for us to sustain routine inspection and ensure compliance. We believe that if we relax our vigilance, with the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, it would not be good for the city.”

    While expressing satisfaction with the compliance level by the nightclub operators, Attah complained about the high number of suspected sex workers around buildings housing the nightclubs in Kubwa.

    He noted, “The presence of the ‘ladies of the night’ is a violation of the curfew because they are not on the exemption list of essential workers. Their presence made us carry out full checks on some nightclubs which were truly closed.

    “At moments like these, we expect them to stop the unholy trade in their own interest because the men who may patronise them may be COVID-19 positive.”

  • TNG report (Covid-19): Bad times for s3x workers, strippers, nightclub owners in Abuja, Lagos

    TNG report (Covid-19): Bad times for s3x workers, strippers, nightclub owners in Abuja, Lagos

    In Nigeria, direct sex work has largely crippled as a result of physical distancing and lockdown measures put in place by the government to halt transmission of the deadly Coronavirus.

    Brothels, alongside restaurants, bars and nightclubs which all used to be the hub of bubbly activities have become ghost towns. Though the federal government has eased lockdown in Lagos and Abuja (Lagos, Kano and the FCT has highest share of Covid-19 infections in the country) , giving some businesses the leeway to reopen, for brothels and other nocturnal ventures, business still remains sanctionable due to Covid-19 curfew.

    From the very beginning, one of the biggest organisations representing Nigeria’s sex workers sounded the ‘lockdown’ alarm to its members.

    Coordinator of the Nigeria Sex Workers Association, Amaka Enemo in a statement she released after President Muhammadu Buhari issued a lockdown order said though sex workers offer “essential services,” they will remain indoors because their services involve “substantial bodily contact.”

    “Sex workers also offer essential services. However, there is no way sex workers can do their work without body contact. So, we are staying at home to watch what happens. The government has announced a lockdown and as law-abiding citizens, we will not flout the law.” She noted

    Brothels, other red-light districts turn ghost towns in Abuja, Lagos

    In Lagos, most of the areas with large concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as lounges, strip clubs were shutdown and deserted.

    From Allen Avenue in Ikeja to First Avenue, Festac; Adeniran Ogunsanya in Surulere and several of such places in Lekki – there seems to be heavy compliance and as such Lagos now looks bleak at night without the magical lights and radiance these pleasure spots brings to the state.

    Specifically, First Avenue in Festac which is characterised by loud musics and seem to be one of the most preferred sex market in the area was empty.

    A resident who identifies himself Obina, said there has been some level of relief in the area as a result of the curfew in Lagos.

    This is one of the very few times I have enjoyed this area, before now, this place doesn’t have the outlook of a residential area, with lots of brothels, clubs in this area you should know that the pleasure biz gives an invitation to crime.

    “Most of the clients that patronise them cause a lot of nuisance. Loud music and noises troubling our sleep, imaging the impression all these also leaves on some of us who are raising kids in this area; sometimes you wake up to see condoms, pants and bras littering the environment, which are all evidences of some sex trade that occurred on roadsides, let alone other criminal activities like robbery, drug sales etc.” He noted

    In Abuja, Ademola Adetokunbo, a more upscale street of restaurants, bars and clubs where ready-to-pick ladies gather on a long stretch waiting for their clients is today empty of such promises. Same is the story in Wuse Zone 4 and some parts of Utako, where you find plenty love gardens thronged with, sex workers, couples and revelers.

    At the moment, padlocked gates, gardens with no chair settings and official notices in red, pasted on front doors are common sights that indicate closure of some of the finest lounges, pleasure centres you can find in Abuja.

    Survival mechanism: Prostitutes, strippers go virtual, embrace home delivery

    But all hope is not lost for some sex workers! Coming to the realisation that the lockdown has temporarily chased them out of business, with most clients staying away from public gatherings in fear of physical contact, some prostitutes have decided to migrate online via several dating apps, where they recruit new clients.

    Networking Apps now offer these league of sex workers a new market. Here, they trade online, by sending nudes to their pleasure-starved clients and some even go as far as taking the delivery of pleasure to the doorstep of customers who are willing enough to dare Covid-19 in getting a pleasurable moment – all these can then be paid for through e-wallets and transfers.

    Some of these major apps used for the new sex trade include, Badoo, Tinder, Twoo among others.

    Kenneth Ejiafor who runs a wine bar in Apo resettlement area in Abuja revealed how most of the sex workers are keeping their heads above water.

    His words: “It is really a bad time for us, the government has paused our livelihood. Ever since this whole lockdown started, I have lost money.

    Asked about the whereabouts of the ladies who used to flood the area before the lockdown, he replied “Most of the girls who come here to entice our customers have all travelled to different destinations. I am not even sure business will return to normal if they lift the ban.

    “Apart from the fact that I have lost some of my major customers, even most of the ladies who come here to make our business a lively one are now getting used to a new life, they are meeting clients on their phones, most of them are on Tinder and Badoo, they see men who invite them to their homes.” Says Ejiafor

  • Court fines police N1.5m over unlawful arrest of sex workers in Abuja

    A federal high court in Abuja has condemned the arrest of women alleged to be sex workers in Abuja by law enforcement agents.

    Binta Nyako, the judge, on Wednesday said security agents violated the rights of the women as enshrined in section 37 of the constitution when they broke into their homes to arrest them.

    She also ruled that sex work is not a crime.

    Babatunde Jacob, a counsel working with Lawyers Alert, a non-governmental organisation, had instituted a fundamental human rights enforcement suit on behalf of the arrested women.

    The Nigeria police, the army, ministry of the federal capital territory (FCT), and the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) were the respondents in the suit.

    The judge said: “I find and hold that the breaking in and arrest of the applicants by the respondents is an infringement of the applicants’ right to privacy as guaranteed by the constitution.”

    “The law has laid down process and procedure for effective arrest. Law enforcement agents and agencies should ensure at all times to follow the laid down guidelines by the law,” she added.

    She ordered the respondents to pay N1.6 million as damage cost to the affected women.

    In April, security agents arrested over 100 women at Caramelo, a night club in Abuja, and other highbrow areas in the FCT, and alleged that they were strippers and sex workers.

    A controversy was sparked off when some of those arrested accused male police officers of sexually assaulting them.

    The women said they had to either bribe their way to freedom or allow themselves to be sexually abused by the officers.

    After widespread agitation by activists and civil society organisations, the FCT police command announced that a “high-powered team” had been set up to investigate the alleged assault of women by its officers.