…789 sex workers, destitute expelled
By FRED ITUA
Prostitution in Abuja, the nation’s capital city, is not strange. It may even appear strange if you drive around the city at night and the “red spots’ are devoid of the presence of ladies of easy virtue.
In many parts of the city, prostitutes are daring and sometimes get away with ‘murder’, despite the frequent presence of security agents. Some districts within the city are notorious for the nefarious activities of sex workers. Wuse II holds the unenviable record as the hub of prostitution, while Garki, Gwarimpa, Utako, Kubwa and, recently, Mabushi, are not left out.
Some abandoned buildings in these districts have been turned to sex havens by prostitutes, who boldly take their clients to the places for ‘quickies’. Others rent an apartment in Abuja suburbs or slums, where they service their customers. Sex romps inside vehicles are also common. For these scarlet ladies new techniques are employed daily to further their trade.
However, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Muhammad Bello, famed for being a practicing Muslim, abhors the presence of these “agents of darkness.”
To this end, the FCT Administration has disclosed that over 789 prostitutes and other destitute have been repatriated to their various states of origin within the last two years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Bello, who told newsmen at a media parley, announced that “789 beggars, mentally ill and other social miscreants have so far been evacuated from the streets of the FCT.”
Bello said, “Majority of these numbers were repatriated back to their respective neighbouring states after proper profiling and rehabilitation.”
He stated that government was determined to ensure that “women, youths, children and the vulnerable in FCT are adequately catered for.”
Acting secretary of the Social Development Secretariat (SDS), Mrs. Irene Adebola Elegbede, who spoke on behalf of the minister, said it is almost impossible to eradicate the world’s oldest profession from the FCT.
She said: “You cannot eradicate the profession; you can only try to contain it. It is the oldest profession. We are trying to discourage commercial sex workers in FCT, but they are smarter than us, they work as cartels.
“When you dislodge or arrest them in a particular place, they migrate to another place. We arrested some in Apo, within the twinkle of an eye, able-bodied men were begging us to release them. We need to cooperate; if every man decides to be disciplined, we won’t see them.
“We should collaborate to reduce their numbers on our streets. If there is no demand, there won’t be supply. We even trained some of them in different vocations as a better alternative to prostitution and gave them start-off kits and start-up capital, but, surprisingly, after some months, we saw them on the streets again.”
The SDS boss seized the opportunity to urge members of the National Assembly to expedite action on a stiffer legal framework that would help in addressing the daunting challenge of beggars, miscreants and commercial sex workers.
Speaking more on the activities of commercial sex workers, she said: “We have a mobile court, where we take them to serve as deterrent to others, but you would see human rights activists coming to pay for them. Initially, the fine was N200 but it was increased to N2,000. And after they are released, they go back to the streets immediately.”