Prostitution; it is the oldest profession in the world; from before
Deliliah’s seductive ways with Samson in Bible times, to what happened
last night in a dark corner at Ojuelegba bus stop in Lagos.

Women, selling their bodies for money; some pushed into this
nefarious profession out of poverty, some, out of sheer greed and some
others, simply for the love of s*x. In this piece, Vanguard explores the
lives students in our tertiary institutions, who now appear more
remarkable in their runs for men and money than their primary purpose of
acquiring quality education.

In her confession, a female student in Lagos said: “My first night
was with a man who had just come from Malaysia and after a long night of
s*x, he gave me N10,000. Though I was happy because, I was not used to
getting that kind of money at once, I was angry because, the guy used me
very rough in the night. He had so much energy and he never allowed me
to sleep. He took me on more than five times and I was very weak.”Runs’
and ‘Aristoism’ in the ivory towers:

This is not a sad tale from a Nollywood movie, it is true life story.

Things were tough for Elizabeth and her widowed mother. But sending
Elizabeth to the university was top priority for her. Her mother would
never have guessed that disastrous blend of harsh conditions, bad
company and wrong choices would lead Elizabeth into prostitution. Her
mother would not know that Elizabeth told our reporters her story from a
brothel.

Her bad company came in the person of a friend she calls Stephanie.
She said: “I met Stephanie during our Matriculation ceremony in the
school, we were and still are in the same department. But we did not
really become close until we met at the party where we got talking and
exchanged contacts. At first, I thought she was into lesbianism because
of the way she was asking me about myself.

“Later she told me that, I did not deserve the kind of poor life
style I was living in school and that I needed to upgrade myself. She
introduced me to some friends who would call me when there was a party
to attend. At one of the parties we attended, they introduced me to some
‘big’ men.

“At first I did not understand what was happening, until it was
obvious that each girl had been paired up to have s*x with an old man. I
was very reluctant about that and I angrily left the party. The next
day in school, she was so angry with me and asked me why I behaved like
that. After much convictions and persuasions, I succumbed to what she
asked for…

After that first night, she never turned back from the trade. “I
became used to the whole thing, and I was collecting more than N5,000
per night. I had to give a cut to the person who brought me deals, and
send some money back home.”

She says if she finds a better source of income, she will desist from
runs. But this is her life for now. Across citadels of learning, cases
such as Elizabeth’s are very rampant.

Linda Okoye, an Aristo, at the Nigeria Institute of Journalism in
Lagos attempted to give more insight into this. In an interview with
Vanguard, she said: “There is no difference because they can both be
classified as pros-titution. But what differs between the two is that
Runs pay more than the normal pros-titution. From experience, I would
say that runs are the advanced or high class pros-titution. Also, runs
are a kind of contract profession while road side pros-titution is like
daily s*x work whereby the person who does it is being paid based on the
time she spends with her customer.

“For example, a normal pros-titute may collect N 2,000 for 15-20
minutes of s*x. But an Aristo can be on call for twenty-four hours.
Another thing about the normal pros-titute is that they can have s*x
with their customers on the road sides like beside banks and filling
stations but runs girls use the best hotels. They have class. They work
based on contracts and people who normally patronize them are rich men
like company executives, politicians, businessmen among others.

What these rich men do is to contact these girls through an agent.
These agents are like normal students. If you go to any higher
institution, you will always find them there because they are the ones
that bring business to the girls in schools. Sometimes you can get
N250,000 or more to spend in one or two weeks with a rich man. So Runs
girls are like high class pros-titutes. You don’t see them around often.
They only come around if you have a job for them.” A 200-level student
of University of Benin, Dorothy Akpenor (not real name) disclosed to
Vanguard that her former roommate was involved in the runs business but
she refused to join her friend.

When asked what was it like living with such a student, she said: “I
was very uncomfortable with it, and often would talk to her about giving
it up. There was a time she came back and told me she was always
emotionless during the actual inter-course and felt guilty when some
Naira notes were given to her. But she felt better that she was able to
meet her financial obligations especially about her studies.”

She stated further that she had advised her to stop the ‘runs’ but
all to no avail. “I did ask her to stop. To me, her excuse was not
tenable because I know her family was not that poor.”

She said that her friend returns with an average of N20,000 to
N30,000. But that she would never resort to it, adding that if she was
in need of money, she’d rather talk to her parents and family members
instead of embarking on s*x work.

Dorothy further said that some of these girls even do it with
desperation, going as far as using charms on their unsuspecting male
patrons in order to get huge amount of money from them.

Poverty, desperation or plain greed?
The question of poverty may not be the absolute reason why many young
female students take to this lifestyle but it surely contributes in some
cases. However, findings show that it is usually more pronounced in
girls who transit from living a normal school life, after a few Aristo
runs, to living big and thereafter a struggle to maintaining the
lifestyle to which they have become familiar. A posh naive female
student with a taste for trendy clothes, shoes and designer handbags
would be vulnerable to such act. She would go for the ‘less stress, more
money runs’ with some randy executives for a night to maintain the
lifestyle she chose for herself.

Nike, a 300 level student at UNILAG corroborated the idea saying: “it
is a lifestyle and not about poverty as people say. Why can’t they do
something more dignifying than

flirting around? Why is it that when they get some money that could
set them up for a business they still don’t stop their trade? Why are
they stuck in this immoral act? Some of them make so much money that you
will agree that it has to do with morals otherwise they would quit if
it was all about poverty. You will see them buying and wearing expensive
clothes, shoes and handbags. Is that poverty?” Nike queried.

On her part, Queen as she is fondly called, told Vanguard that she is
in the business simply for the love of money and s*x. She targets men
who have just arrived the country from abroad because they “have more
cash to splash.” She said: “I just love s*x; no condition pushed me into
that. I love the money too, so I go for what I want.”

Sadly, University of Lagos, UNILAG, Akoka, is also known to be the
spot for campus pros-titution. Its closeness to places like Yaba,
Surulere, ensures a constant flow of wealthy ‘customers’. Chidinma Akpan
(not real name) a female student who spoke to Vanguard stays at the
popular Moremi Hostel, notorious for housing such girls.

She said: Men come to female hostels in the evenings to call on
ladies. If the lady chooses to answer them, they both go to have a nice
time. If she refuses, the men will move on to the next girl till they
find what they are looking for. Some other times, it is more complex
than that. Aristos work with some errand boys in female hostels. These
boys show the rich men who come around the pictures of different girls
and the men pick anyone they want. Just like picking a style of clothing
from a catalogue.

Felicia Jinadu, also a UNILAG student, lamented on what her
experience has been like with these pleasure seeking men. I have never
been tempted to engage in this act but I get approached from time to
time in the evenings, may be its because of my stature. I have heard of
cases whereby some of our girls go with these men and never return. Some
of these girls engage in it as a result of peer pressure. I heard
somebody bought a car worth N7m for a lady. They engage in it because of
what they can get. Some of these girls come from good homes, but are
not satisfied with what they get from their parents.

Another student, Linda, told Vanguard: The school runs have become
some kind of profession for some people. It’s just like hard drug
whereby if you don’t take it in a day you won’t be all right.

Written by Vanguard’s Laju Arenyeka, Anozie Egole, Iyabo Aina, Adeyeri Aderonke & Juliet Ebirim