Lekki shanties where ‘huge men’ meet sex workers
Sex workers in slums in Lekki talk to Sharon Osaji on the experiences that led them into prostitution in the high-brow area of Lagos State
Joy is a woman of simple virtue who doesn’t try to hide it. She has been in business for almost three years at Kuramo, a slum located in the center of Jakande, Lekki, in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.
When our correspondent paid her a visit on this particular Tuesday night, she was animated and burst out laughing after a coworker said something hilarious.
She sported a white brassier that appeared to be advertising her supple breasts and dark pointy nipples, together with tight-fitting, high-waist floral leggings.
Her brown wig was chicly arranged in reverse. She batted her eyelids at anyone who dared to look her way while tweaking and cramming her breasts as if they might pop out as she seductively glared at passing guys while wearing thick makeup.
She gave a man who seemed undecided a kiss on her plump lips and a grin.
She was ignored as he moved on to another woman…………………………..CONTINUE READING
Joy was unique in one way, though: neither of her two ears was pierced. Later, this writer learned that she belonged to a well-known Pentecostal congregation that forbade women from donning jewelry.
Joy had visible stretch marks on her arms and back in addition to the apparent ones on her tummy.
The woman, 38, stated that they were the result of the beatings she endured during her failed marriage.
She said in an interview with Saturday PUNCH that she turned to prostitution in order to free her family from the “chains of poverty.”
She claimed to have been working for five years and had only moved to Kuramo, where she joined other sex workers, three years prior.
Kuramo’s residents concurred that the area had been popular for sex for around 20 years, yet no one could definitively pinpoint the exact moment when it turned into a haven for prostitutes.
Men crowd the modest shelters, which are made of nylon and wooden planks and are arranged in a line along the road, virtually squeezing inside to sate their libido.
Joy, a mother of two, claimed that during the first six months of starting her business, she assisted her mother in erecting a structure in Lagos’s Ikorodu neighborhood.
She resolved never to let “stinking poverty” have control over her family once more, despite the fact that she claimed to be looking for a path out of the “streets.”
“Just because I’m here doesn’t imply I’m a sluggish lady. I’m a powerful woman. She cackled, “This rotten poverty must perish. I’ve worked in enterprises before, including farming, and I’ve done it before.
“I am the third of six children; my father died young and left my mother to raise us all alone. Then, the first child, our older brother, was sick and my mother lost all of her money. Because all of the money that was received for his health, none of us could afford to attend school. Because of my brother’s illness, they would always chase us away like a curse, thus we never stayed in one place for longer than a month. There was no one to assist us, not even my family’s destitute uncles, brothers, or aunts. My mother cried all the time.
Joy claimed that, in addition to dealing with family issues, she made matters worse by getting married too young at 25……………………………CONTINUE READING
She complained that her military husband beat her frequently and cheated on her.
We used to live in the barracks; our home consisted of a room and a parlor, the woman recalled. I had two children for him. He treated beating me as usual, and even when our two kids were home, he would invite women around. Frequently, while we were in the room, we would hear him having sex with them in the parlor. On occasion, I would approach them and he would carry on as if I weren’t there. When I finally found the strength to leave him, I turned around and went to my mother with my kids.
She claimed that a childhood acquaintance who had also endured abuse in her marriage had introduced her to prostitution at this point.
Joy claimed she made a commitment to improve her mother’s quality of life and to raise money for her ailing brother’s medical expenses.
“That abject poverty was excessive. We’d endured enough pain to last a lifetime. I don’t wear earrings because I go to a Bible-believing church and I believe in God. Giving up is not an option for me, though, so when life pushes you to the breaking point, you have to push back.
“I am the only one who engages in prostitution; I forbade any of my sisters from doing the same; some of them are even married. The only thing I regret is that I couldn’t assist my sickly older brother. He passed away before I could collect enough cash for his medical care. I’ve accomplished everything I set out to do, and I’ll shortly stop working,” she continued.
AIDS, prostitution, and poverty
According to some reports, one of the main causes of prostitution, which is a growing industry across the nation, is poverty.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS estimates that there are 103,506 prostitutes in Nigeria.
Sub-Saharan Africa, which only accounts for 10% of the global population, is home to over 60% of those who are living with AIDS, according to UNAIDS.
According to the UN organization, 3.47 million individuals in Nigeria were living with AIDS as of 2002.
A 50% possibility exists for female sex workers to get HIV/AIDS; heterosexual relations are the primary source of most infections.
Over 200,000 people in the nation died from HIV/AIDS in 2005.
Additionally, the National Bureau of Statistics recently reported that 133 million people in the continent’s largest economy are poor.
According to the bureau’s Multidimensional Poverty Index report, 133 million Nigerians suffer from inadequate health, education, living conditions, employment opportunities, and shocks.
During conversations with sex workers at Kuramo, everyone identified poverty as a key motivator for entering the risky industry.
pregnant woman who now works in sex
Love, a 35-year-old mother of a baby who is eight months old, has never experienced true love.
She claimed that when she was expecting the child, she began prostitution.
Love, who was married for 15 years, claimed that because she didn’t have children, her ex-husband constantly humiliated and abused her.
She didn’t find out she was pregnant until after her husband had kicked her out.
She claims that she swore to stay away from the marriage out of concern that she could miscarry the child.
“I didn’t want my husband to beat us both to death, killing myself and my child. It took me 15 years to find the strength to escape an abusive marriage, but once I did, I vowed to do whatever it took to live.
“I left Port Harcourt, where I was living, and came into Lagos with my pregnancy and my frustration. At Choba, I owned a sizable hair salon that was doing well. My husband took everything away and said he made me, even though I had three girls in my salon who were calling me madam.
“I had to start over from scratch because I had nothing with me. I’m 35 years old and I am unable to return to my parents, who live in a village and are impoverished. I had no choice but to come here in order to get money to eat,” she continued.
Love claimed that after putting some money aside, she rented a home in Sango-Ota, Ogun State.
She added that in order to get enough money for both herself and her unborn kid, she also started selling food along the road……………………………CONTINUE READING
However, because she had a caesarian section, the procedure consumed all N300,000 of her money.
Even after having a child, I tried to restart my food business with what little I had, but the market had stopped moving and I was no longer selling. It is horrible for me to bring that infant back to the village to live with my parents, but I was forced to do so in order to survive and care for my child.
“My baby, who is about eight months old, and I returned to Kuramo two months ago. I don’t go outside every day because my baby is very young, but at the moment this is what is covering my bills.
“Even though I didn’t attend school, I learned how to do hair, and I’m also interested in selling food. Because the capital required to open a salon would be too high for me, she continued, “I merely need to save enough money to launch the food business.
When asked if her husband was worried about the baby, Love responded that he had dared her to take care of the infant by herself.
Or, I should go back if I’m ready, but I’m unable to do so. I’ve put up with him much too much. In addition to hitting me, he would invite women over and order me to leave the room so I could sleep in the living room. He would belittle me by telling me that “women, not men,” slept in the room. He would claim that he married another man because I didn’t have any kids. She fought back tears as she said, “I can’t go back to that trauma.
According to information obtained by Saturday PUNCH, slum girls were given N1,000 for a round of intercourse.
Additionally, they pay N500 everyday to their chief security officer, who gave them security protection. This is in addition to the N200 they are required to pay the CSO every week in “percentage.”
The CSO, who would only go by the name Osama while speaking with our correspondent, described the Kuramo women as “those who have lost hope in life, hardened their hearts, and are ready to do anything to survive.”
The majority of the shanty’s residents were elderly women, according to our source, with the youngest sex worker being a woman in her twenties.
Many of the sex workers were moms, and as a result of pregnancy and breastfeeding, some areas of their bodies were sagging.
According to information obtained by Saturday PUNCH, the area comes alive mostly at night when the women begin to arrive around 7pm.
Some people rent out the shoddily constructed shelters as “workshops” for the night, while others live there.
The sex workers told our correspondent that they made more money on weekends, public holidays, and on Fridays and Saturdays.
A societal ill is prostitution.
John Gyong, a professor of sociology at Ahmadu Bello University, claimed that prostitution was a social issue and that efforts to combat it should go beyond simply removing sex workers from the streets to include giving them training and housing.
He pointed out that for a more significant, long-lasting impact, the government and non-governmental organizations may also fund them in schools.
Gyong bemoaned the large number of women who were taking to the streets as a result of high divorce and domestic abuse rates.
He declared, “It drags down a society because we have a group of individuals who are producing what is meant to be valued as a public good in order to make a living. They do it to make ends meet; it is not something they like doing.
“The first step is to make them aware of the risks associated with the occupation, particularly in terms of their health. But if measures are not taken to guarantee long-term fixes and thorough rehabilitation, they will merely return to living on the streets.
However, it’s crucial that people participate voluntarily rather than being forced off the streets. They would take learning more seriously, be more deferential to authority, and calm down as a result.
“Education will also help people become more enlightened and develop new outlooks on life. Others would start to look up to them after they become educated and their firms start to flourish, and they would then see a cause to leave. Then, they’ll serve as examples for others.
Additionally, the women required love, according to psychologist Anthonia Abu, who works at Pinnacle Medical Services, in order to properly recover from these traumatic experiences and move on with their lives.
She claimed that ongoing counseling will boost their self-assurance, particularly if they were able to locate a reputable mental health professional.
“Sex workers find it challenging to get help because they are most terrified of the stigma associated with their line of work.
“However, once you can get over that barrier and approach them on a personal level, you realize that the majority of them are incredibly hardworking individuals who have been appropriately empowered on all fronts—physically, financially, and intellectually. They’ll start to appreciate themselves more and gain self-assurance, she continued.
