I SERVICE 4 MEN EVERY NIGHT, COLLECT N1,000 PER ROUND
— 17-yr-old sex prostitute
Emotions ran high at the Lagos State Police Command as some under-aged girls, who were allegedly lured from their villages by human trafficking agents, narrated how they ended up being prostitutes in a hotel at Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos.
Some of the girls, whose ages were between 15 and 19, disclosed that they slept with at least four men every night, for N1,000 each.
Others, who were discovered to have abandoned their children in their villages, with the hope of getting a job that will improve their living condition, lamented that the present economic situation was affecting their trade, following low turnout of customers.
The revelation came after the Lagos State Police Command uncovered the hotel, located on Ige Street, with the subsequent arrest of some its management staff. One of the girls, aged 17 (names withheld), boldly stated that she came to Lagos to ‘hustle.’ Her words: “I am an orphan. Someone directed me here from Calabar, Cross River State. I started four months ago. I attend to at least four men every night and collect N1,000 from each of them; but I use condom.”
On her part, Jovelin Edet, a mother of one, stated that she left her three-year-old child in her friend’s care in Akwa Ibom State, after she was assured of getting a job in Lagos.
According to her, “I have been in the hotel for seven months. But I attend to one or two men every night and I collect N3,000 from each of them, for short time. But when I follow customers home, I collect N5,000. “My parents are not aware of what I do in Lagos. I use the money to take care of myself and also send to my friend on weekly or monthly basis, to take care of my baby.” For Destiny Itabasi, a mother of one who also abandoned her three-year-old baby back in her home town in Akwa Ibom, she was invited to the hotel four months ago, adding that she makes at least N15,000 weekly from prostitution.
But 15-year-old Loveth (not real name), claimed that she came from Oron, Cross River State, to collect money from her sister Monica, who was alleged to be the trafficker.
Meanwhile, the alleged coordinators, Thomas Emmanuel, 29, and Okon John, 34, denied bringing the girls from their villages, claiming that the girls came on their own. They added that the commercial sex workers pay them N3,000 weekly as rent.
@ Vanguard Newspaper
