By Isaac Anumihe
An Abuja resident, Musa (surname withheld) closed from work on
a Friday night and decided to pick some snacks at an eatery in the AYA
axis of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As soon as he pulled up his
car, two girls rushed to him, one standing by the driver’s side and the
other by the passenger’s side clutching some weather-beaten bottles of
cough medicines.
But as he later found out, that was not their main product. “Kindly
help us buy, sir”, the girls pleaded. He could not fathom why the girls
would expect anyone in his right senses to buy drugs that have outlived
their shelf life and the relevant authorities did not bother to arrest
them.
Just then, the girl standing by the driver’s door saw another car
pull up and rushed towards it, leaving her colleague at the other side
of the car.
Real product for sale
Before Musa could say a word, the girl opened the door, sat inside
the car and introduced another product, which explained why they were
there.
With innocent smile, she said: “Sir, we also sell manpower. Try out this one and you can have fun with a woman for four hours non-stop!”
Narrating his experience, Musa stated that in his bid not to dismiss
her rudely, he told the girl that his wife was not in Abuja and so he
would not buy the drug.
“As if that was what the girl waited for, she quickly replied: ‘But I
am here. If you can buy this drug, you can test the efficacy on me
without paying.’ It was about 9 pm and the girl insisted to go home
with Musa! He refused to say what followed the unusual offer.
Daily, and in many parts of the FCT, young girls, many in their
teens, hawk sex power-boosting drugs, and offering to be used to prove
their efficacy.
Investigation by Abuja Metro revealed that buy-drug-for
free-sex is one of the various strategies adopted by wayward and
desperate girls to survive the hard times after the official ban on
prostitution in Abuja in June 2013.
The girls usually position themselves strategically in busy areas in
the metropolis such as AYA, Area 3 (where there is a cluster of banks),
Banex Plaza, Wuse Zone 4 (near Shagalinku Hotel, and old Sahad
supermarket), Area 3 and Gimbia Street in Area 11parts of the capital
city.
Sexual service imbedded in drug price
One of the girls (names withheld) told Abuja Metro that she
sells the ‘manpower’ drugs for between N1,000 and N2,000 depending on
the bargaining power of the buyer. According to her, the fee for free
sex with interested buyers is padded into the cost of the drugs.
Some men reject the offer
Another sales girl in the team said not all men jump at the weird
offer. She confessed that some of their customers would simply believe
the efficacy of the drugs and buy them without using them as guinea
pigs, while some men pick the drugs because of the sex bonus attached to
the purchases.
Efficacy of drugs in doubt
A man who simply identified himself as Haruna, told Abuja Metro
that he had patronised the girls but, he doubted the efficacy of the
drugs. His words: “One of those girls deceived me to buy the drug for
N2,000 and lured me to a nearby guest house where I took
the brownish powdery substance but I could not perform beyond my normal
rounds.
“Forget those girls. They are just extorting money from unsuspecting
people. The drugs do not work. But there are two deals in one. So, you
can have one and lose one. At all at all na him bad”, he said in pidgin English.
Ban on prostitution
Open prostitution was banned in FCT during the tenure of Bala
Mohammed as the Minister of FCT. In June 2013, Mohammed gave sex hawkers
48-hour ultimatum to leave the nation’s capital or face the wrath of
the law.
The minister, who decried the steady rise in the population of
prostitutes in Abuja, had stated that they constitute a nuisance because
their services add no value to the beauty of the city.
Speaking through his Secretary for Social Development, Mrs. Blessing
Onuh, the minister warned men who patronise the girls to desist from the
filthy act or risk being treated as accomplices if caught in the act.
Consequently, he set up a special task force, which raided most of
the notorious parts, including a hotel regarded as the headquarters of
commercial sex workers, Zone 4, Area 11; Gimbia Street and other hotels.
Due to the daily raids and in a bid to beat the ban, some of the sex
hawkers rented apartments for their illicit trade. Some of them who
could not cope with the harassment, moved to neighbouring towns like
Mararaba, Masaka and New Nyanya, all in Nasarawa State.