…As Sex Workers Tender Receipts Of Financial Transactions
Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Some commercial sex-workers in Benin City, the Edo state capital, have lamented an alleged extortion by Edo State Migration Agency just as they tendered receipts of their financial transactions before newsmen.
The sex workers were arrested on Monday night during a raid by officials of the Agency in a bid to rid the State of drug and human trafficking.
They were reportedly profiled at the agency and later released to go home.
However , the sex workers, on Wednesday, cried out that they were extorted between the sum of N15,000 and N50,000 after they were released.
They claimed that they were promised that their video won’t be posted on the internet but were shocked that their video were shared in the social media without their faces covered.
The aggrieved sex workers showed evidence of receipts of the payment to one Uyinmwen Uyigue.
According to one of the sex workers, who does not want her name in print , “I am still in shock. I couldn’t get myself since last week Thursday. Edo State Migration Agency recorded us with a promise not to post the video after collecting N50, 000 each but they went ahead to post it.
“I have proof of money paid through POS to them. I was shocked when friends and family members started calling me that they saw my video on tik-tok and Instagram.
Another victim narrated, “On Friday evening all these Migration people raided us at Ihama street and arrested 30 of us. They detained us at their office and video us with a promised not to publish it after we paid N50, 000 each.
“The next thing my family members saw it and started calling me. My family said I brought shame to them and that they don’t want to have anything to do with me because of the video”.
When contacted, Mr. Uyigue confirmed collecting money from four sex workers but said the money he collected was fine paid by owners of lodge where the sex workers stay.
He said the lodge owners under the auspices of GRA Hospitality Forum agreed on a fine of N50,000 for any of their girls caught in the street hawking sex.
According to him, “Activities of drug dealers have been a stigma to our businesses. We met with the Migration Agency and they proved to us they meant business.
“We met as an Association and decided that any lodge owner whose girl is caught outside will pay a fine of N50,000.
“The money those arrested girls paid was fine from the lodge and not to the Migration Agency.”
Director General of the Migration Agency, Lucky Agazuma, said the agency was well funded and would not resort to extort money from sex workers.
Agazuma said the agency never extorted sex workers but work towards rehabilitating them back to the society.
“We have had several engagements with the owners of brothels. We told them we will not be after their brothel but they should not bring in underage into their brothel.
“In our raiding, we discovered that they kept underaged girls. Those persons who were involved in this act are in prison, including the native doctor who take them on oath.
“They also do organ harvesting. Even as I speak to you now, there’s a husband and a wife who just trafficked a little girl to Mali. They are in prison right now. “