Some sex workers in the Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa are recounting how they were promised job in the city and ended up as sex workers.
A sex worker who prefers to be called Doo from the Konshisha area of Benue state said she was brought into Keffi by a woman she did not disclose her name under the promise of given her job taking care of her, and because she is the firstborn of her family and her parents poor, they allowed her to follow the woman to the city.
Doo narrated how the woman changed the narrative when they arrived at Keffi and told her she could no longer provide the job and help earlier promised.
Doo explained how the woman who brought her from the village on the promise of helping her, advised her to go to Royal Ambassador Hotel to get a job.
Doo told MAWA that when she got to the Ambassador Hotel as advised by the woman, it was then that she realized she has been brought from the village for prostitution.
She, however, told MAWA Foundation that because she had no place to go and can’t return to her community considering the financial need of her family and the desperate need to help her parents and siblings, she decided to take up the job of prostitution.
Doo while narrating her experience, said she no longer feels bad being a sex worker, while disclosing that she now makes money and sends to her family and siblings.
Another sex worker who spoke to MAWA explained how she came to Keffi in search of admission into the Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
She disclosed that when she could not gain admission into the university and could not go back to her village, she decided to approach the Ambassador Hotel, where she took up a job in prostitution. An action she said she took because of her desperate for survival.
The sex worker who did not want to disclose her name told MAWA that she does not worry about her job as a sex worker, pointing out that all jobs have its risks and prostitution is not an exception.
When MAWA approached the Ambassador Hotel manager, she confirmed that they have lots of sex workers, adding that the sex workers are happy because they do not have to remit money to the hotel at once, and are allowed to pay gradually as they earn and also have enough for themselves.
When asked if the hotel has teenagers, the manager said every sex worker in the hotel is old enough to take decisions.