IN a move that left Nigerians stunned and wondering if the end time has come or just a case of civilization or globalization or all of the three, sex workers in Lagos held a march in Ikoyi, protesting their stigmatization and asking for the freedom to ply their trade. Sex work or prostitution has been an age long profession always plied in secrecy but recent happenings where they come out in broad daylight singing and dancing has kept tongues wagging and people asking if armed robbers would not come out one day to protest for their right and recognition as professionals too.
While the Sex Workers based in Abuja held their own march on the 17th of December to commemorate the International Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers, their counterparts in Lagos held theirs on the 3rd of March to commemorate the International Sex Workers Rights Day. The objective of these walks is to call the attention of Nigerians and the international community to the gross Human Rights violations against Sex Workers in the country. As a matter of fact, they now have an alliance with their counterparts in Africa and all over the world. While the African body is called ASW (African Sex Workers Alliance), there are many other bodies or association of sex workers with different names all over the world. Call it a labour union and you may not be far from the truth.
All these led the Guardian on Saturday to seek, find and chart with these sex workers to hear from the horse’s mouth and be sure that our ears are not deceiving us. Our search led us to the coordinator of ASWA Nigeria, a naturally endowed and voluptuous lady in her mid 50s who identified herself simply as Pat-o. Through her, we were able to get in touch with a whole lot of others who talked to us but were not comfortable revealing their names. Therefore, all the names used except that of Pat-o and Joy are not their real names. Mrs. Biola Ogunyemi, a researcher with ASWA and a contact person with some NGOs that work with sex workers was also very instrumental in locating and reaching out to these prostitutes. Their stories are different, but their challenges and goals remain basically the same.
Different Reasons
While some joined the profession for reasons ranging from peer pressure, stubbornness, laziness to the search for happiness, others saw it as an escape from poverty.
Pat-o is a divorcee with two children to cater for. According to her, things got so rough that even two square meals a day was a problem. Her sister who was a sex worker overseas advised her to join her in the sex trade. The Akwa Ibom State born plump lady who grew up in Port Harcourt took the advice of her sister and in her words, “it is a business like any other business” and she has had no regrets joining except for some challenges. Her sister, who is now so popular that she refused to name her for fear of stigmatization, made some good money and came back to Nigeria to establish another business. Pats two children are now in the university though they do not know her occupation. She however said she will tell them one day so that they will know how far she had to go to bring them up and see them through school and appreciate her. She also said that has built a house at home and would soon start to develop her plot here in Lagos. “Are we not trying?” she asked rhetorically.
Kate is a busty fair complexioned young lady from Imo state. She cannot sell pure water and farm work is tedious. She left home telling the parents that she is going to Lagos to be a house girl. She keeps in touch and sends them money while saving the rest to establish a business and build a house.
Angela is from Edo State, the third of six children. Hers is peer pressure and the search for adventure that landed her in the brothel. Most of her friends have made it through the profession and she thinks that they are not much better than she is. According to her, she wants to ‘hammer big’ too.
Joy is a dark complexioned pretty lady from Ebonyi State. The slim lady in her early 30s joined the profession to better the lot of her siblings. She is from a poor home and could not further her education because of that. Instead of allowing everybody to rot in poverty, she decided to join the trade to help out. Her family do not know what she is doing but so far, she has been able to open a shop, which she is using to cover up her real profession, rent an apartment and support the siblings in school.
Lola is a young girl of about 19 years from Ogun State. She was delivered of a baby girl few days ago. We went to see her in her apartment, which she shares with one young man. The dark complexioned lovely girl was shy and reluctant to talk at first. However, when she opened up eventually she told us that hers is a case of stubbornness. She didn’t want to go to the farm or ordered around by her parents. She escaped to gain her freedom. She joined the profession 3 years ago and just moved into the current brothel from another one last year. According to her, some men find having sex with pregnant women much more interesting and so, she had a lot of patronage during her gestation period. Now, with her baby all alone in a shanty built over a swamp littered with refuse, she regrets her action but feels that she has strayed so far. When asked of the father of her baby, she hesitated and later told us that he is dead.
How They Work
According to Pat, sex work is a business that involves using what you have to get what you want. “Just as you prepare and go to work, that is how we do too.” Just like any other business, they attend to numerous clients whom they try to satisfy to retain their patronage. “Before you start, you pray earnestly to your God asking him to bless and prosper you.” She refused to mention her church but says she is an active member and prays regularly for good customers and for success. Some of the others interviewed also said they are good Christians too with very good prayer lives.
According to them, a client pays a stipulated amount depending on the time agreed, the client involved and how he wants it. Whether it is till day break (TDB) or short time service, who you are and your bargaining power plays a role especially for new customers in spite of the stipulated amount. The payment is made before service is rendered. To every sex worker, time is money and very precious, so they will not allow you to continue longer than the time without an additional money or a fresh negotiation.
Speaking with the Brothel Manager, he said that the ladies pay a daily rent so that the problem of one running away without payment is ruled out. Men from all walks of life, come around to patronize the girls. Some are their loyal customers, some breeze in after work while others come when their wives travel. According to him, even government officials and well placed individuals in the society also come. Some pack their cars elsewhere and walk in others send their boys to come and pick the girls. While some have them there in the brothel, others prefer to take them to other places of their choice. He got to know all these because he has to be involved to ensure the safety of his girls. He makes them fill a form and drop their ID cards before taking the girls out. “I go into their rooms to check them every midnight to ensure they are ok because if anything happens to them, I will be in trouble,” he explained. “We the brothel owners around here have an association, we contribute money and settle the police so that they stop harassing the girls and leave us to do our business. If not for some of these challenges, the business is good and we are trying,” he concluded.
Same Challenges
They have all had a similar challenge of stigmatization, marginalization, police harassment, intimidation and unlawful arrest and detention. Joy told a story of how the police raided their brothel in a bag job while she was in with a client. They barged in on them and arrested everybody for no just cause and without recourse to their right to privacy. Her case is worsened by a police officer who desperately want to date her even though she told him she is there for business and not to stay for one man alone.
Kate on her own part still has a scar on her face, an aftermath of a battery she suffered in the hands of her client. She held him at the wrong place when his time expired and he was neither ready to stop nor make a fresh negotiation and so she got the beating of her life.
While Angela complains of Police and Soldiers coming in and insisting on sex without payment, and some men fighting them for sex without condom, Cynthia refused to talk because she said she does not know which one to talk about and leave the other. She rather went in to attend to her client and cool down with a cigarette afterwards.
Angela wants us to use this medium to tell the law enforcement agents that they are not transporters that carry them for free. They mean business and for them, it is money before service. According to her, the police arrest them after they insist on payment, take them to the station and ask them to bail themselves with the same amount they paid them, thereby recovering their money.
The Rally
The various rallies by sex workers comprising both young and old was geared towards creating awareness for the age long profession and press home their demands. Their demands, which are basically about their human right and made to both the government and the people of Nigeria include:
an end to stigmatization of their members by the people of Nigeria
an end to police brutality and incessant arrest of their members
a decriminalization of sex work.
a recognition of their work as a profession and their association as a professional body
a collaboration with the government as it is done in other countries to move Nigeria forward, among other demands.
Their goal is to leave the profession better than they met it for the upcoming generation, says Pat. According to her, the time has come for them to come out of their obscurity and fight for their right. They want an end to stigmatization and name-calling. They want to be referred to as sex workers and not Prostitutes or Asawo. They want to be able to practice their profession with pride like every other person after all there are sex workers everywhere under one form of disguise or the other.
Sex workers everywhere?
Yes! says Pat-o, the ASWA Nigeria Coordinator. She made it abundantly clear that the stigmatization and marginalization should stop because they are not the only ones in the sex trade. According to her, some married women whose husbands are performing below expectation or who just need to meet up are into sex work unknown to their husbands. Most university students are seriously into sex work either to help train themselves or just to meet up too. She talked of the corporate prostitutes especially bankers who have to prostitute to meet their targets and retain their jobs. Some of these people use the services of the brothel or hotels while others connect through the social media like facebook. “The funny thing is that the person working against us and calling us names does not even know if his wife, sister or daughter is one of us,” she said in between laughter. “If I don’t tell you that I am a sex worker, you wont know unless you see me here. Most of us are working as nurses in big hospitals but you wont know. The ones with HIV take very good care of themselves, very cheerful and protect themselves even more than you do. So why call us names, who are the sex workers? Everybody is hustling and if you ask me, every woman is an Asawo and the men that come to us are Asawo too,” she concluded.
The Police react
Otahumele J. O. Esq., the DPO of Ijora Badia Police Station exonerated his officers from any dealings with the sex workers. According to him, “if police men patronize or arrest them arbitrarily after collecting money from them, they must be from another station, not here,” he said angrily. “What may be paining them is the order which I gave that after 12 midnight, anybody seen outside would be arrested,” he continued. “There used to be a lot of criminal activities around here and since I came, there has been some peace. These prostitutes come in with criminals and a lot of ammunition have been recovered from there. They fight over men and most midnights, more than five women fight over one man,” he explained. When told that the sex workers want to collaborate with the police to fight crime, he asked amid laughter, “Who wants to help the police? They get so much money from these criminals and would even jeopardize the efforts of the police. They want money by all means and these criminals are their major clients. They wouldn’t want to be out of business” he explained. “If there is a need for me to raid that place, I will do it. Police should be seen to be doing the right thing. I am a lawyer and I will never victimize anybody,” He concluded.
The children with multiple fathers
Prostitutes are always engrossed in themselves, trying to make themselves attractive and doing everything to satisfy their clients. There were more than seven children between the ages of 5 and 10 in the brothels. We were told that the younger ones are taken to a day care while these ones are driven away when the mothers wants to work.
They no longer go for abortion after some of them fell victim to quack doctors in the past. Besides, the fact that even in pregnancy, they still have good patronage makes them to carry on when a mistake occurs. The fact however, is that these children will have no particular person to call father, may not have access to education and above all, end up prostitutes.
They Are Not Alone
There is always light at the end of the tunnel. Some Non Governmental Organizations have taken it upon themselves to reach out to these prostitutes and help them. The Safe Haven International founded by Miss Margaret Onah is working assiduously to rehabilitate repentant sex workers and empower those that are still in the trade. She wants the government to help in decriminalizing sex work and help empower them. Mrs Biola Oluyemi is another woman who is a contact person in the community helping the NGOs to reach out to these sex workers. They want the government to decriminalize and come to the aid of these hapless and helpless citizens. They believe that the basic of all human needs is to understand tnd be understood. the best way to understand remains to listen to them. They are calling on the government to listen and come to the plight of Nigerian sex workers.
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