Commercial sex workers operating at some popular
brothels in Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos are
now threatening to go on strike as part of their New
Year resolutions.
They are unhappy with the owner of the brothels
whom they say has refused to provide amenities that
would attract more customers to the brothel in the
New Year.
They are also unhappy with the unfavourable
working conditions under which they operate.
The scarlet ladies, it was gathered, had been
complaining that patronage was dwindling as the
economy bit harder. They said the owner of the
brothels should put in place amenities that would
give them an edge over other competing prostitutes
in the area.
Investigation by the reporter revealed that the threat
by the commercial sex workers to embark on a strike
was not unconnected with the huge financial
demands placed on them by the operators of the
brothels, all of which look identical and are owned by
a single person along the Old Ojo Road. They said
with the huge financial demands from the operators,
making ends meet for the prostitutes was becoming
very difficult, if not totally impossible.
One of the prostitutes, who introduced herself as
Ifeoma said on daily basis, each of the sex workers
paid as much as N4000 to retain her room in the
brothel. Defaulters were usually sanctioned, she said.
“If you don’t pay it on time, they will lock up your
room. And when you have a customer, you will be
stranded, unless if one of the girls gives you her key,”
she said.
By her calculations, the rent on each room is about
N120,000 each month, excluding illegal fees paid to
the police as well as other utility expenses. She said
each of the girls paid over N1.4 million annually, an
amount that could get each girl a three-bedroom flat
in a respected part of the Lagos metropolis.
When the reporter visited one of the brothels, there
was hardly any vacant room, especially when the
amenities were functional. One of the girls told the
reporter. “To get a room here is not easy at all. Once
a girl is able to secure a room, she does everything
possible to ensure she doesn’t falter in the payment
of her rent, so as not to lose the room. Though
paying the rent is not easy, no one wants to lose her
room.”
Mabel, a 32-year-old sex worker dressed in some
skimpy attire, said the active working life of a
prostitute was quite short.
She told the reporter:
“There are some girls that describe prostitution as
being glamorous, but I don’t agree with them. What
they do with me here cannot be called relationships.
No one brings me any flowers here. They are using
my body like a toilet. What is glamorous about a
prostitute, who sleeps with many strangers in a day?
And in a year, she has sexual intercourse or oral sex
with more than 1,800 men? For me, it is no fun. It is
strictly about the money.
“We can no longer tolerate any inadequacy like
irregular electricity supply that sends our customers
away. At a time, customers no longer come for
‘short-time’ or ‘till daybreak’ as they did before,
making it difficult for us to meet our financial needs.
How can they come when everywhere is dark and
drinks are not cold? They will not buy diesel, always
waiting for the public power supply that is not
reliable.”
Maureen, another girl in her late twenties, said
that for a long time now, she and her colleagues
had been barely managing to make ends meet.
“We only work to pay rent to the owners of the
brothels due to the low patronage. We even beg for
money to feed at times after paying the rent,” she
said.
But some of the girls have been staying in the brothel
since it was opened. The reporter learnt that such
ladies hardly hustle for customers. They have regular
clients, who have been getting regular doses of sex
from them for a long time.
The reporter was told that some of the girls, who
cannot afford to secure separate rooms, come
together in pairs and pay for their rooms and they
take turns to bring in their customers. Sometime,
when one of them secures customer ‘till daybreak,’
depending on the type of man, “all the three may
share the bed, even do the thing together,” Ifeoma
informed.
Samuel, a regular patron at one of the brothels, told
the reporter:
“The prices are not cast in iron. It depends on the
bargaining power of the man. Many of the girls
charge like N2000 for a round of sex, though they
sometimes collect less, depending on how regular
the customer is. For ‘till daybreak,’ they charge
between N5, 000 and 7, 000. However, to book a girl
for till daybreak,’ you will wait till about 10pm or even
12am to go into her room. And depending on the
girl’s greed, she may insist on being through with her
regular business of the day. Though, if you develop
familiarity with her, she may consider taking you in
earlier.”
The reporter learnt that besides a few whose rooms
are not well equipped, many of the girls furnish their
rooms to taste, with modern electronics gadgets.
Such girls know no other homes. And for the
beautiful ones, business is always good. A girl could
make an average of about N20,000 on a good day, it
was gathered.
A prostitute acknowledged that besides
decorating their rooms well and wearing skimpy
clothes, some of the girls also go diabolical to
make men loyal to them.
She said:
“We visit native doctors when we don’t get enough
patronage and business is dwindling. T he contents
of the used condoms can be specially packaged in
cellophane bags and taken to native doctors to
prepare different forms of charms,” she said.
One of the prostitutes revealed that a prostitute must
be tough and street-wise to make a success of her
career.
“A man once told me he would pay me N5, 000 for ‘till
daybreak’ while my sister hooked up with his friend.
He slept with me all through the night. In the
morning, he offered me N500, saying that was all the
money on him. That was how the trouble started.
And when they wanted to fight with me, my
colleagues came out from their rooms and beat them
up. We also forced them to drink the water we
had used in washing our private parts,” she said.
The girls’ threat to embark on a strike wouldn’t be the
first time such an idea would be mooted. In August
last year, about 2,000 commercial sex workers in
Awka, the Anambra State capital, concluded
arrangements to embark on a strike, following the
demolition of their settlement beside the cattle
market at Amansea, in Awka North Local Government
area of the state.
The State Urban Development Board had stormed
the place with over 50 armed police personnel,
alleging that the brothels were being used as
hideouts by kidnappers and other criminals.