Tricked, trafficked and forced into prostitution, this Nigerian lady escaped
By Rotimi Akinola
Faith Ekpemephia was just another normal girl in search of a better life. So when she was told someone in Ondo State would pay something reasonable for her service as a housemaid, she said yes to migration.
That would be better than the drab life she endured somewhere in Akwa Ibom, or so she thought.
Enters Akure, the Ondo State capital. No dish to wash, no laundry to do, no meals to prepare; but there are lots of men to dance for, strip for, and open her legs to.
She didn’t choose to follow this path. She was deceived, trafficked and forced into prostitution by a “madam” who promised her a better life.
“A girl from my village in Akwa Ibom who resides in Akure, Ondo state, told me that one madam she worked with needed the service of a house help,” Faith told her story.
“The girl told me that I would be helping the madam for house shores and she shall pay me monthly.
“I Arrived Akure last week Tuesday for the house help job and lodged in their hotel only to discover that it was a prostitute work she lured me down here to do.
“I cried and told her that I wanted to go back to my village as this was not the type of work she told me about but she threatened me.
“The woman collects the service money from me anytime I want to meet with a man.
“I have made up to N6000 and slept with more than three men since my arrival”, she said.
Faith is not alone. Hundreds of Nigerian girls, and women, are lured into prostitution every day by “madams” who promise a “better life.”
Sympathy Foundation Worldwide, a non-governmental organisation, estimates that at least 13,500 prostitutes roam the streets of Lagos every night.
Many of these “sex workers” were deceived into the lifestyle the same was Faith was.
Some, who are trafficked abroad, are even unlucky. At least 200 Nigerian girls are taken to Russia for this purpose every month, the Nigerian Embassy on Russia says.
Unlike most of these people, Faith was fortunate to have found a way of escape after some church members in her new environment alerted the authorities to her plight.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Ondo State Command, arrested the suspected “madam” identified as Ms. Susan John and a group of six “prostitutes” allegedly under her command.
Ms. Susan was the one, it is being alleged, who forced Faith into prostitution.
She was busted at a brothel in Royal Crown Hotel, on Car Street area of Akure.
The suspects were paraded on Tuesday.
“We would make further investigation and hand them over to the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, for further questioning,” the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Kayode Balogun, said.
Faith is among those he’ll be handing over.
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