Sex workers in Akure, the Ondo State capital and other parts
of the state now face difficult times as the state command of
the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence (NSCDC) has launched
an intensive war against prostitution and commercial sex.
To this end, the NSCDC has started patrolling brothels and
hotels in the state, especially at nights to ensure that
underage prostitution is brought to an end and prevent sexual
abuse.
Besides, the command is waging serious war against child
trafficking, said to be common among prostitutes in the state.
Recently, the NSCDC arrested a suspected prostitute identified
as Ms.
John, for alleged involvement in child trafficking. She is
currently in the NSCDC detention awaiting prosecution.
The 33-year-old woman was apprehended alongside six other
suspected prostitutes at a brothel located in the Akure
metropolis.
The NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Mr Kayode Balogun, who
paraded the suspects said Ms. John was nabbed after
trafficking a victim identified as Faith from her hometown in
Akwa Ibom to Akure for prostitution.
He said officials of the command got wind of the incident after
complaints were received from some members of Faith’s
church that the 14-year-old girl was being sexually abused.
Balogun who condemned the act said the command after its
investigation found the suspect culpable and was ready to
charge her to court. “The act is totally unacceptable. We
would make further investigation and hand them over to the
National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons,
(NAPTIP) for further questioning”.
Narrating her ordeal, the victim said she was lured from her
hometown in Akwa Ibom State to Akure under the guise of
serving as a housemaid, but later discovered that she had
been recruited into prostitution. A girl from my village in Akwa
Ibom who resides in Akure told me that one Madam she
currently works with needed the service of a househelp, and
since I was not doing anything at home, I followed her, only
to get to Akure and begin to do another thing different from
what I was told. When I arrived Akure late in the evening, I
was lodged in a brothel and introduced into prostitution. I
arrived on a Tuesday but I was at the brothel till Friday and
when I asked questions, the woman kept deceiving me, till I
began the prostitution work that they brought me to do.
“I cried and told her that I wanted to go back to my village as
this was not the type of work she told me about, but she
threatened to kill me if I refused to cooperate with her. She
warned me not to go home threatening that if I do, I will be
killed.”
However, Faith said she eventually ran away when she was
being maltreated by men and her “colleagues”, saying, “I
became tired of the useless business I was doing and I ran to
some members of my church who took me to the NSCDC after
I narrated my problems to them. The woman always collects
the service money from me anytime I want to sleep with a
man. I have made up to N6,000 and slept with more than
three men since my arrival,” she added.
[NAN]