SIN CITY: How Apapa in Lagos mixes commerce with prostitution

Locally and internationally, the name Apapa is synonymous with serious commercial and economic activities such as freight forwarding, import and export activities, among others. Located in Lagos State, South-West Nigeria, Apapa habours two seaports: Apapa Wharf and Tin-Can Island Wharf, believed to be the largest seaports in the West African sub-re­gion.
By that position, Apapa is unarguably, the lifeblood of the nation’s economy. The fact that Lagos parades itself as the economic nerve cen­tre of Nigeria is attributable to the two seaports in Apapa and the array of industries that have attracted to the area.
High volumes of economic activities such as import and export as well as other econom­ic activities are carried out daily in the place. Consequently, it has attracted large number of people from all walks of life. People from dif­ferent races, nationalities and ethnicities engage in all kinds of economic activities ranging from clearing imported goods, paying for import du­ties, paying for demurrages to buying different kinds of imported goods, among others, on a daily basis.

The location of the two seaports in Apapa has also attracted hundreds of industries in the area, making the place an industrial hub. Most of these industries, which are into manufactur­ing, also attract large number of people to the place making Apapa the busiest commercial centre in Nigeria.
But, Apapa is not just about commercial and economic activities. Just like other cities in other countries of the world where seaports are located, there are also the good, the bad and the ugly. These men who do businesses in these seaports and those who work in the industries located in the area, naturally, would want to relax their nerves after a hectic day’s business. And the natural places to go for such relaxa­tion are where women exchange sex for money as well as clubs, especially those clubs where women dance half-naked.
This is how Apapa earned a place in the league of red light street cities. For a first time comer to Lagos, Apapa is a place where for­eign imported goods are cleared from. Also for those who do their business in Apapa or visit the place and leave before 5:00pm, the descrip­tion remains a place where imported goods are cleared from. But, a visit to some areas in Apapa at night, especially from 8:00pm, will automatically change that notion. Such a visitor would come to terms with the fact that women of easy virtue have invaded Apapa and indeed turned it to ‘Sodom and Gomorrah.’
When Saturday Sun reporters visited such places as Domino’s Pizza on Wharf road and the surrounding streets as well as Bakery Cres­cent, a lot of activities had started as early as 7:00pm. A journey inside most of the adjoining streets, off Wharf roads, would bring one face to face with a handful of brothels with women of all shapes and sizes displaying their arsenals to willing customers. While some are so ma­tured that they would rather employ non-verbal cues such as eye movements, tongue twisting, wriggling of various Ghana-made buttocks, dis­play of extra-large boobs as well as twisting of thighs to leave one in wild imagination of what could lie between such thighs; others go for what they want directly without beating about the bush. They would beckon at the men, whom they suspect were there to patronize them. Such rabid invitation was equally extended copiously to our male reporter, who was merely rambling on the street to observe them in their natural habitat.
Besides, there were groups of men at dif­ferent points engaged in one activity or the other, and probably, waiting for darkness to completely envelope the day before they would join the fray. Some were gambling with ‘Ludo’ while others were gambling with ‘Whort.’ And then, another group of roughnecks were smok­ing all kinds of weeds such as marijuana and Indian hemp. They smoked off the weed and at the same time drank local made gin (Ogogoro). Few others held on to bottles of beer, which they sipped as they smoked the weeds.
On hand to service both the ladies and their customers were drug sellers, who displayed their wares on wheel barrows. Most of the peo­ple in this drug business are from certain part of Nigeria. They have various aphrodisiacs, which both men and women consume before embark­ing on sex escapades. Such strong aphrodisiacs as Viagra are carelessly seen on display. They combine the sale of the drugs with the sale of condoms of assorted kinds.
In fact, a fast observer could rightly con­clude that sex trade was thriving in the environ­ment, considering the array of drugs on display without let or hindrance, even without a fore­knowledge of what goes on in the environment.
Such is what happens on Wharf road and its surroundings. And, as an offshoot, there would always be petty robbers and pick-pockets in such environment.
The poverty of the situation is that this illicit trade thrives in residential areas. Saturday Sun’s investigation revealed that residents most times don’t sleep because of what goes on around the environment. Children in the environment are seriously endangered morally because of the depraved conduct of the ladies. Parents are not comfortable but they cannot help the situation.
According to a resident on Bakery Street, who simply gave his name as John, the peace of the neighbourhood is always under threat following the activities of sex workers and their patrons. He cited a fresh case to drive home his point. He said: “Some cases like that are common and cannot be wished away. For instance, there was this incident involving one lady called Ada and her customer, also called Seun. It was Ada’s loud cry that abruptly woke us up from sleep. At first, we thought that armed robbers had in­vaded the building. We were fidgeting and pant­ing so much that we almost wetted our panties.
“Our hearts were still palpitating when we heard a screaming voice of a female saying, ‘Pay me my money. I say, pay me my money. You fuck me and now you no wan pay. Shebi, you wan kill me; Oya kill me now.”
Continuing, John said: “But, Seun did not fret over the display of such madness as he seemed to have been used to it. In a voice filled with anger, he shouted at the lady saying, ‘I go just kill you here and nothing go happen. I go beat you again. Oya, leave my shorts.”
It was at this point, according to John that he signaled to his family members to crawl out of their hiding places, since it was not armed robbers as they had thought. “The incident,” he said: “happened around 2:00am.” He also said that when they eventual­ly went outside, they were surprised to discover that the lady in question was totally naked and still insisting that her full entitlements must be paid.
John added, “When we went outside, we saw the girl stark naked. She was pretty, fair com­plexioned and tall with her boobs succulently standing firm. She had a clean shave. Even as we all stared at her in shock, she didn’t bat an eye-lid, instead she held tightly to the man. The man wore a pair of boxers.”
Investigation revealed that such occurrences are commonplace in the area. Most of the girls, our reporters gathered, converge on the area from different parts of Lagos, especially from Ajegunle, Orile, Ijora Badia, Ebute-Meta, Os­hodi and Festac among other places.
Narrating such ugly occurrence, a road-side food vendor, simply identified as Mama Bukky said: “We hear gory and shameful tales of sex scandals around this place often. For me, once I finish selling my food, I go but we still get to hear what goes around in our absence some­how. For instance, there was a story of one man last week. His name is Kayode. He is married with kids somewhere in Abeokuta, but works in Lagos while his family stays in Abeokuta. He was said to have felt horny that fateful night and he decided to go for a call girl. He went to a brothel close to our area and got the lady.
“According to the lady, the man went sever­al rounds with her, including asking for a blow­job and doggie style, which she gladly offered. But, when it was time to pay, the man refused to honour the gentleman’s agreement. She was naturally furious and she refused to leave without collecting her money. So, she started making noise and in order to shut her up, Kayode attempted to throw her down from the second floor where he lives. This was after he had beaten her silly. But, she was saved by the high pitch of her voice as people rushed to her rescue. The lady said the deal was sealed at N2, 000, but the man refused to pay”
Saturday Sun investigation revealed that the two instances illustrated above are just a tip of the iceberg. However, the lady’s encounter with Kayode is just one out of many instances, where the girls are thrown into the water or killed and dumped by the road side without any trace of the perpetrators.
It was gathered that most expatriate white men, who pick these ladies for sex don’t even pay them after marathon sex romps. They have been accused of always trying to play smart on the girls.
“And because the ladies are most often taken to ships, where some of these white men live, they are sometimes thrown into the sea. The ladies are drowned just to avoid paying them agreed money,” an enraged resident vol­unteered.
He continued: “A lot of people feel that the lives of these girls are worth nothing. Their job is hell, but who are we to judge them? Most of them know and realize the danger they face out there as they follow total strangers to unknown destinations, but they seem to be between the devil and deep blue sea. So what must they do? What has the society offered them? You may suggest getting a degree, but I don’t think so.”
He went further to proffer solution, which he thinks would curb the sexual excesses of our young girls. He said: “The best way to safeguard our wards from becoming pros­titutes is to begin from the cradle to show them love. Give them the best we can, then hope and pray that everything in life remains equal, because any slight change in the curve of life could bring them face to face with prostitution as we can see today. For­tune has neither friend nor foe. And luck is a prostitute, picking whoever she likes to grant favours; if you are rich today, you could be­come poor tomorrow.”
Source: Sunnews