- Our ‘manager’ charges each of us N30,000 to operate freely – Young sex workers
Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Edo State have uncovered a settlement in Benin, where teenagers making a living as prostitutes live.
The teenagers, said to be mainly from the North and Middle-belt regions of the country, the NSCDC alleged, were recruited as commercial sex workers around the transit area along the Benin Bye-pass in Uselu N’ Ahor, Uhunmwode Local Government Area of the state.
State govt should employ security agencies to evacuate settlement
The NSCDC Commander in Edo State, Makinde Ayinla, said operatives of the corps uncovered the settlement built near a police station, after weeks of surveillance.
The state Civil Defence boss advised the state government to engage security agents to clear the settlement, which he described as unhealthy for human habitation, to avoid the outbreak of an epidemic.
He said demolishing the settlement would give impetus to the fight against child and human trafficking in the state.
The commander described the government’s initiative of introducing skills acquisition to check prostitution as a welcome development.
He, however, decried the attitude of some parents who, he said, abandoned their parental duties, noting that such behaviour often put children at the risk of being used for rituals or kidnapped.
Some of the victims said that they were from Benue and that their parents were unaware of their whereabouts.
They said they were brought to Edo by a lady identified as `Manager,’ who promised them lucrative jobs in Benin. ‘Manager,’ it was learnt, had been on the run.
They also alleged that the lady collected N30, 000 from each of them as “settlement fee” to set such a person free to operate on her own.
They further said that each of them paid additional N500 daily as `loyalty fee’ to `Manager” from a daily income of N3, 000 to N4, 000.
