• ‘Stakeholders’ say Liverpool, Takwa Bay, Kuramo Are Pick-up Points
Notwithstanding high level presence of security agents, Lagos waters have started witnessing upsurge in the activities of commercial sex workers and their pimps who facilitate what has now become a money-spinning ‘trade’ for facilitators and beneficiaries.
Some personnel of government agencies have been fingered in the resurgence which is allegedly traceable to some of them for the booming sex market on board vessels; especially at the Lagos breakwaters.
“The officers at the breakwaters in Atlas Cove are feeding fat on the prostitutes who go out to sea to meet seamen. Instead of sending them back, the officers collect an average of =N=3,000 from each of the ladies of easy virtue, following which they go and meet their clients”, a source who also provides ‘services’ to the prostitutes told our correspondent last week, even though he refused to be specific about which agency is most culpable.
Shipping Position Weekly was confronted with shocking revelations about the illicit trade in the course of this investigation which took our correspondent across the length and breadth of Lagos internal waterway network.
Our correspondent confirmed that the sex workers have a strong link with the security operatives; especially the Police and Immigration personnel and that the kingpins have their bases at strategic points around the villages bordering the Atlas Cove jetty and stretching to the Apapa axis.
A source told us that the take- off point for the sex workers is usually the Marina water fronts, Kuramo beach and the popular Liverpool jetty in Apapa. He also added that sometimes, the Mile Two jetty.
For instance, he said that those who come from Apapa axis especially, Ajegunle sometimes board speed boats at the Liverpool jetty for as much as =N=3,000 each.
“Sometimes, students of higher institutions also come here and we pilot them to Atlas Cove or Lagos break water, sometimes some of them go to Mile Two, some go to Marina and Kuramo” , our source disclosed.
A speed boat operator also told our correspondent that the presence of security agents has made the business a bit more risky but disclosed that “once they find their ways to the anchorage, by all means, they are sneaked onboard the vessel , from there, they get to the harbour and often stay with the crew until they are set to sail out”.
“They are dropped -off in the same manner that they came on board, from there, they will find their ways to the jetties’, he added. According to him, sometimes, the boat operator is requested to stay for the prostitutes to finish their businesses. “That service can cause as much as N15, 000, because we have to wait for them to finish and also carry them back”, he added. He disclosed that the prostitutes cab earn as much as =N=30,000 to =N= 40,000 or even more.
At the popular Kuramo beach on Victoria Island, we gathered that what the commercial sex workers charge the seafarers depend on type of vessel, the nationality of their customers and duration of the transaction.
A frontline master mariner who pleaded anonymity told Shipping Position Weekly that there is nothing new about that kind of business, saying that it has always been there. “There was a time those girls were coming into the ports to service crew, especially on weekends and late in the night. its part of the hazards of seafaring”, he pointed out.
“The Lagos break water is not the only place where these things happen, once you have a speed boat and you have access to the gang way, you can come on board anywhere”, he added even as he refused to comment on the alleged involvement of security agents.
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