SEGUN SMART

All sex indices crash
· Call Girls seek economic stimulus package
By Segun Ajiboye, Emeka Enyinnaya and Wale Adenuga

It seemed very quiet in the ‘red light’ district of Lagos Island on this night. Unlike other nights before, Jessica had been out in the cold for three hours without a prospective customer. For her, the night looked bleak and uninspiring. With hopelessness boldly written on her face, she dashed across the road when she noticed an approaching car. But like others before, the driver sped off, without noticing her.
This has been Jessica’s lot for the last four moths. As a commercial sex worker (CSW), Jessica earns enough money to rent an apartment of her own, train her two younger siblings and still have enough to send home to her parents. But since the global economic meltdown broke last year, Jessica’s earnings have nose-dived. “This is serious. Our customers are no longer coming, even when they come, they don’t pay well again.”
Before the meltdown, she made an average daily income of between N5, 000 and N10, 000. She confessed that she is no longer able to perform her usual responsibilities to her parents and siblings as she hardly makes enough to keep body and soul together.
“Even when there was bad market, I still made enough money to make me happy. But these days, I hardly make enough to feed myself, not to talk of sending money to my parents.”
Prior this time, the popular Kuramo Beach in Lagos (tagged Sodom), was about the best sex spot in the state. In the day, this quiet and seemingly unattractive fun spot would suddenly become active by nightfall when its patrons, mainly CSWs and their clients converged on the long stretch of sand to ‘do their thing’ either right there on the sandy beach or by special arrangement which include other varieties such as ‘Takeaway’ or ‘Till Day Break’.
In those good days, it was all-night action and no dull moment for the CSWs who were sure of making some reasonable fortune for their efforts. But it seems they too have not been spared the pangs of the economic meltdown.
On this particular night, it was lamentation galore for this trio of CSWs. Clustering together, with lighted cigarettes to keep body warm and keep the cold at bay, they lamented the fate that has suddenly befallen them in the last couple of months.
“I think it is high time we left this job. You just struggle to live these days. Look at the clothes we are wearing. We can no longer change our wardrobes the way we used to do. Even my friend who does not do this kind of job is complaining. Please tell our government to do something before we die of hunger.”
Tayo is a pretty young undergraduate in one of the higher institutions in Lagos. Though from a poor home, Tayo looks every inch the daughter of a successful politician or businessman. What with her designer’s outfits and foreign cuisines and all the accessories that go with them.
Even most of her friends believe Tayo is from a wealthy family. What is however unknown to them is that, in her words, “I am a runs babe”. By being a ‘runs ba’be, Tayo runs a commercial sex ring alongside few other friends both within and outside the campus.
Her clientele include top corporate players, contractors, politicians and old men (aka aristos). As a ‘big girl’, she also runs a ring that provides beautiful and ‘action’ ladies for corporate and political bigwigs whenever there is a big meeting or convention in town.
For her effort, Tayo has single-handedly sponsored her education. This is aside from other responsibilities she has taken up in the family.
In the best of days, she nets more than N100, 000 in a month. Sometimes, she got luckier with generous clientes who spoiled her with both cash and material gifts. “I must confess to you that we make more money than even those in the banks. Apart from that, you could be lucky to meet a man who would like you and decide to do more for you.”
However, all that was in the past. Today, Tayo laments about her income, which she confessed, has gone down considerably. Asked what could be responsible, Tayo shot back angrily: “Are you asking me what is responsible? Are you not leaving in this country, or are you from outer space? Don’t you know how much they sell dollars now? Even the beggars are complaining, and you are here asking me what is responsible for the fall in my income.”
Her roommate, Funke, seemed more touched by the downturn. Twice in the two months, she has had to sell off some of her clothes and jewelry. While she is yet to fashion out a new survival strategy, Funke, fearing an impending doom, said she might be thrown into further mystery by the recession.
Funke’s worst fears, however, is that she might not be able to complete her ambition of acquiring a university degree. “My main concern now is how to complete my studies. Most of us who do this job are into it because we want to use them money to help ourselves. For me, it was meant to help me through school, since my parents can’t pay my fees. But with what is happening now, where do I get the money to complete my education?”
At Ipodo, another sex workers’ enclave in the Ikeja Business District, the story is not different. Loveth (surname withheld) told National Life that life has taken a dramatic downturn for her since the beginning of the economic crisis. Before now, Loveth used to make an average income of N10, 000 between the hours of 9am and 7pm. She confessed that she has to be at her best, coupled with lots of ‘wahala’ to earn half that amount now. “Business is not moving at all. I used to make between N10, 000 and N15, 000 from 9am to 7pm on short time basis. But for me to make N6, 000 now na wahala.”
If Loveth thought ‘business’ would improve at night, she has found out how wrong she was because the nights too have not helped her purse in any way. “Even at night that we used to make more money, customers are no longer coming. The few ones that come complain of lack of money. Men don’t even take a second look at us any more.”
Loveth’s friend and colleague, Cynthia, has rudely woken up to the reality of the crisis. Cynthia, who was based in Abuja uptil late last year, said she moved to Lagos after her ‘sales’ dwindled.
With high hopes, she moved in with her friend in Ikeja, Lagos. But few months after, she is already regretting her actions. “I used to operate in Abuja. But business was low, so I decided to relocate to Lagos because I thought it was because competition was stiff out there. Since I relocated to Lagos, I have not seen any change. As a matter of fact, things are getting tougher.”
Cynthia is however confused on who to hold responsible for her predicament. “I sincerely don’t know who to hold responsible for this problem. I don’t know if it is the government, because some people are saying our government is responsible for the bad economy.”
The story was the same at a highbrow club frequented by CSWs in the heart of Ikeja. Grace is on the verge of being thrown out of her single room apartment, which also serve as her operating base. Her daily rent of N4, 000 has suddenly become difficult for her to meet. “Life is tough,” she confessed to National Life.
Grace , who moved out of her former abode in another brothel nearby last November, narrated her ordeal to National Life. “I moved to this place last year from my former place when I could no longer pay the rent. At the moment, it is already becoming difficult to pay the daily N4, 000 rent for this place.”
Her plea to the landlady to reduce her rent, she said has so far fallen on deaf ears. “We have begged our landlady to reduce the rent, but she has refused. How does she expect us to get N4, 000 everyday when we don’t even make enough to feed.”
Mama T is the most senior CSW in a popular brothel in the Gbagada area of Lagos. Aside from owning a shop where she sells household items and other materials, she is also in charge of some young girls in the brothel. Even for her status, the last few months have left a bad patch on her income. Never before has this woman seen anything like this in her close to one decade practice as a CSW. “My brother, I have not seen anything like this in my life. We now struggle to survive. Thank God that I have another business that brings in money. I only pity the young girls who don’t have any other thing to do.”
For her and others, the economic recession is fast proving to be tougher than earlier thought. While governments, businesses and the homes are already reelling under the weight of the recession, commercial sex workers have not been spared its wrath, leaving some to contemplate quitting the world’s oldest profession.