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By Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
In Abuja, commercial sex workers commonly referred to as, “runs girls,” are urgently appealing to the Federal Government for assistance as the economic crisis deepens. The removal of fuel subsidy has led to soaring prices and diminished disposable income for many Nigerians, significantly impacting leisure activities and patronage of nightclubs and gardens.
Ene, a sex worker from Jabi, expressed the grim reality: “All the men are now carrying strong faces. We find it very difficult to initiate businesses.” She noted that the economic hardship has drastically reduced the number of men seeking entertainment outside their homes, directly affecting their livelihoods: “If nothing changes, many of us will have to return to our villages because we can’t even afford rent or food.”
Kokoma operates in Nyanya. SWhe shared her struggles: “I haven’t eaten good food for days and had notcut my hair due to lack of money.
“Though I live in Nyanya but my business joint is in Kubwa because that is one of the booming places in Abuja right now. They see Nyanya girls as local chicks and pay less. I move to Kubwa in the evening for business and return anytime or the day I’m done with my clients.
“This rainy season is supposed to be our season. But the economic situation has crippled everything. Many of my clients are no longer picking my calls. I had to get a new SIM card for them to pick but once they discover I’m the one they hang the phone on me.
“As you can see, I just finished cutting my hair. It is not that I like low cut but I have to do it because even feeding is now a problem not to talk of changing hairstyles.”
Joyce Hassan confessed: “Before now, just standing on major city bus stops would earn me lots of money. But now no man even pays transfer fare for me as fine lady.
“This hardship has spoilt everything as the guys are no longer smiling these days. All we see are serious and angry looking men. When one is not happy, how can you talk of having fun?
“I am in very tight corner now because my rent will expire next month. The man I introduced to my landlord as my husband when he insisted that he was not renting his house to a single lady has stopped picking my calls.”
Margaret Pepper, a commercial sex worker at Kubwa Market, said: “Things have become so hard that if you see more than three customers in one day, you will thank God. Customers are hard to come by, and when they come, the offer is nothing to write home about.
“Before subsidy removal, we were enjoying high patronage with good prices. Those days, I would attend to six to eight customers everyday with good prices ranging between N7,000 and N10,000 for short time services.
“This is apart from other incentives like good food, drinks, chicken, Isi-ewu and other goodies that customers provide willingly.”
Madam B who joined the business after she lost her husband, noted that her corn roasting business wasn’t fetching her enough money to take of her children. She had to join prostitution, which she described as very nice at the beginning but everything changed with the increase in fuel price:
“It is hardship that led me into it. I am a young widow with four children. I am the only one that is taking care of them. I don’t stay in any brothel or stand on the
