Fears over rise in prostitution among Borno’s displaced women
The account of state authorities and people displaced by insurgency in Borno State shows that women living in temporary settlements otherwise called Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps are vulnerable to abuse.
Governor Babagana Zulum recently said there was increasing prostitution and drug use in the IDP camps and that there is increased procreation in the IDP camps and therefore the government would create an enabling environment that will ensure reconstruction and resettlement of IDPs back to their communities in a dignified manner.
Thousands of people living in the camps reportedly face difficulties in obtaining adequate food rations, which force most of them, especially women, to resort to begging on the streets. Many displaced women engage in prostitution for fees ranging from N500 to N2, 000 with clients both within and outside the camps according to sources.
“There are a number of displaced girls and women who are trading sex for money to buy food or other basic needs. This happens because food aid hardly arrives on time and food grains supplied per person are grossly inadequate,” Hadiza Mohammed, a woman who has spent 10 years at the Teachers’ Village camp, Maiduguri, has said.
Mohammed, whose family fled Baga town in Kukawa Local Government Area following attacks by insurgents, said ‘life’ in camp in the past was ‘good’ because the displaced population had access to sufficient safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs. She said the ration was gradually reduced per household in the last couple of years and people live with food insecurity.
“The food given to us is not enough and most of us are strangers in the host community, so we do not have relatives to come to our aid. Some of us pluck the leaves of the Tafasa (Senna Obtusifolia) plant and cook as food. There are women who beg on the streets while many others, especially young girls engage in prostitution to get money to buy food. What is frightening is that, it is difficult to stop illicit sex without food security because these girls see themselves as survival sex workers; this is not pleasurable and fun sex,” she said.
Hadiza said the only way out is to boost patrols and send people back to their original communities.
More women interviewed by Daily Trust Saturday at the camp including Yagana Alhaji Bukar, Zulaiha Mohammed, Adama Sarki and Yagana Mustapha agreed that most teenage girls are lured into prostitutions either by pimps or friends and that some girls have given birth outside wedlock. The three women said some of the girls trade sex for as low as N500, enough to buy a pack of spaghetti.
Chairman of displaced persons from Ngala LGA at the camp, Babagana Bukar, said though food is being provided by federal authorities unpredictably, the amount was reduced from 8.4kg to 5.6kg per household without any cogent reason. He said the reduction in the amount of food grains given to the displaced persons has further plunged them into hardship.
“The people have no means of securing the necessities of life and most of them will be live from hand to mouth for as long as they stay in host communities. There is a rumour making the rounds that girls sneak out of the camp and go to Kasuwar Fara (somewhat, a red-light district), where they engage in sexual conduct in turn for a fee,” he said.
He said to curb the menace, displaced persons have to be given financial support and security to return to their ancestral homes where their livelihoods depend on the Lake Chad.
Women Leader of Gwoza LGA, Bakassi IDP Camp, Maiduguri, Hauwa Amadu, said illicit drug abuse and prostitution were rampant among displaced youth in the past.
“But more drug arrests were carried out by the law enforcement officers who also provided necessary support for individuals recovering from drug issues. Most of those people have not returned to drug addiction after release,” she said.
On prostitution, the women leader said it took the intervention of an international interest group to convince a lot of women that engaging in sexual intercourse in exchange for a fee was not the only way to survive as a displaced person.
She said, “We talk to them regularly about the dangers of prostitution and because we have a deeper understanding about the problem we are facing, the interest group that facilitates the counselling processes even promised to offer financial support to the women. Most of them told us they engaged in sexual services to feed their kids and pay school fees; most of them have stopped prostitution because they know it is a sign of moral decay.”
Similarly, Women Leader of Guzamala LGA, Bakassi Camp, Hajja Gumsu, said prostitution is one of the major problems being given maximum attention by community leaders and that in spite of the consistent advise given to women against ‘these illicit acts,’ it will take longer time for many to change.
She called on authorities to provide more material and logistic assistance to displaced persons.
Alhaji Abacha Baichu, chairman of displaced persons from Monguno LGA at the Bakassi Camp, said lack of parental guidance and peer influence as well as family standard of living is among the leading causes of prostitution. He also said wealthy people, including public officials, who visit camps regularly tend to lure young girls into sex businesses.
“When you come to this camp between 7 and 8pm, you will see people in pairs - male and female standing. This is common near the children's play ground.
“A man was recently caught with a woman in a public toilet while one public official was arrested for raping a girl on her way to farm eight months ago,” he said.
He said the state government can address the problem by recruiting wellmannered plain clothes security personnel in each camp to monitor and apprehend people in the act.
An official of the National Human Rights Commission in Borno State, Barrister Jummai Mshelia, said the commission has sustained efforts to educate displaced women about sexual exploitation and gender-based violence. She further said any individual caught luring displaced women into sex business will be charged with sexual exploitation.
She said the commission has in the past picked up abandoned babies in the camps.
A sociologist who would not want to be named said that recently, there was an increase in birth among displaced women in camps but that most of the women were married.
“The babies were not born illegally,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Director-General National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Mustapha Habib, had visited families displaced by insurgency at Teachers’ Village and Bakassi camps, Maiduguri, Borno State, where he supervised the distribution of food items to them and pledged to offer additional humanitarian support to displaced persons in the North East Region.
He said the visit was meant to verify the level of intervention being provided and explained that the major constraint of the agency was inflation, adding that more food supplies will be provided for displaced persons.
Thousands of people living in the camps reportedly face difficulties in obtaining adequate food rations, which force most of them, especially women, to resort to begging on the streets. Many displaced women engage in prostitution for fees ranging from N500 to N2, 000 with clients both within and outside the camps according to sources