Anti-prostitution war lingers as Abuja street girls pose new challenges

As a result of the clamping on prostitution in the city by the authorities spearheaded by the twin agencies of the FCT Social Development Secretariat and the Society Against Prostitution and Child Labour in Nigeria, SAP-CLN, activities of sex workers such as Angela has been nipped in the bud to a great extent but not […]

As a result of the clamping on prostitution in the city by the authorities spearheaded by the twin agencies of the FCT Social Development Secretariat and the Society Against Prostitution and Child Labour in Nigeria, SAP-CLN, activities of sex workers such as Angela has been nipped in the bud to a great extent but not entirely eradicated. Sex workers are gradually becoming more ingenious in efforts to keep afloat in their trade while at the same time escaping the rampaging city officials bent on checkmating their activities. Angela says that what they now do to stay in business is to hang around hotels, guest houses, gardens and bars many of which can be found in various parts of Abuja.

Many of them have standing agreements with the establishment owners- for a fee of course- who turn a blind eye to their innocuous presence on their premises. ‘We ‘flow’ in with the people that visit such places and mingle with them in the hopes of getting customers. By the way we dress seductively of course a potential customer would easily identify us and approach us. Sometimes we approach them ourselves asking them to buy us drinks. A potential customer would naturally steer the conversation towards the way we want and in the end a deal is struck and we leave with the customer. Some of the hotels have rooms in the hotels that we hire for a short period which we pay for out of the agreed amount we charge the customers.

Sometimes the customer will prefer to take us to a hotel or guest house he chooses. It all depends on the agreed amount of course. But we rarely go below the sum of N2000 which will include the cost of the room. But if the man wants us to go with him to his place to spend the night, that is much higher of course. Some of the girls who are not brave enough to enter these bars and gardens simply hang around the entrance in the hopes that they will get someone to pick them off for the night for ‘short time’ or t. d. b. (till day break) but theirs is more risky as they may be picked up by policemen who prowl also in the hope of being bribed by them to turn a blind eye or even having free sex with them,’ Angela says unemotionally.

Street commercial sex work contravenes Section 35 sub section 1 of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) Act of 1997, therefore making it unlawful for anyone to patronize commercial sex workers.

Findings by Sunday Trust also reveals that a few wealthy sex workers now have rented flats in high brow areas such as area 11, Wuse 2, Gwarimpa, Asokoro and parts of Garki where willing men are taken to for the night. Many of them even have businesses they attend to during the day, but at night they engage in the flesh trade possibly to augment their daily earnings. A resident, Samuel Ajibade who lives in one of the high brow estates in area 11 says that many of the women who live in his estate are engaged in prostitution. “At night a visit to my estate will reveal flashy cars of different models coming to pick these ladies. Even as late as 12 midnight you still find them entering the flats of these ladies. Many of them pool their resources to rent the costly flats. A few rich ones rent the flats for their sole use. Prostitution functions at different levels. This appears to be the highest form now in Abuja.”

The trade is at its peak in the outskirts where it is practised more brazenly. In places like Mpape, Karimo, Mararaba, Dutse, Kpaduma, Apo mechanic village, Kado village, Gudu, Lugbe,  Kubwa, and a few others, sex trade still blossoms though on a lesser scale than what before. In Kabusa village, a few meters from Apo legislative quarters, a strip club operates every night where tens of sex workers gather in order to offer their services to sex starved men. In the past it used to be the streets but in the recent past findings reveal that the clubs, bars, gardens and leisure spots appear to be the new platform for the flesh trade.

According to a statement made available to Sunday Trust by the Secretariat’s Public Relations unit, Secretary of the SDS, Mrs Blessing Onuh says that despite logistic and financial handicap the centre has continued to play a laudable role in eradication of prostitution in the city through the activities of its rehabilitation centre. ‘It is pertinent that we recall the events that led to the emergence of this centre. The activities of street commercial sex workers in FCT posed serious problems and a big menace to our social and security lives that stakeholders felt it was high time this was combated. The FCT administration quickly put in place the centre to check the menace. Expectedly the centre serves as a source of economic empowerment and women friendly centre to ensure that our young women have a decent source of income and livelihood. To ensure its smooth take off, the centre was equipped with state of the art facilities for skill acquisition in such areas as hair dressing, computer appreciation, fashion designing, catering, bead making, event management and others’

She adds that the 1st batch of graduands of the centre have been ‘offered starter packs and take off grants for their business ventures in their acquired skills and reports so far are very encouraging.’ About a week ago another batch of 473 as against the initial number of 39 were graduated at the centre.  A take off grant of about a thousand naira was given to each to kick start businesses of their own.

She however believes that all hands must be on deck if the menace of prostitution should finally be reduced to the barest minimum. ‘We use this opportunity to solicit the support of other agencies, international organisations, and NGOs for assistance in the areas of training, provision of equipment and financial donations for this laudable project.’

Residents agree that alot still needs to be done to address the social ill. A resident who prefers anonymity recounts his experience at one of the clubs in Jikwoyi, a suburban enclave. “I was invited by some friends to attend a ‘gig’ at the club. What initially amazed me was the fact that, while the gate fee for the male invitees was N1,000, the women were given free entry tickets. When I got there I realized the rationale behind the whole thing. Apart from the fact that the ladies outnumbered the men, it was obvious to any observer that they were sex workers, eager to make quick money. The manager who is a friend of mine later confided in me that many of them-club owners use such occasions as publicity bait to attract such women of easy virtues, who will also attract willing men. The end result would be that monies will be made from renting out rooms for consensual sex and selling of alcoholic beverages. This according to him was how many hotel owners and clubs were making quick cash, while also ensuring that the prostitutes earn a living.”