On a popular social media platform, the Facebook, Linda Grencia (not real name) a trend-setting commercial sex worker had sent a friend request to Mr. Don Mban and quickly, they began to chat, exchanging nude pictures, making hasty plans to physically meet and get acquainted. While the male folk accepted Linda’s friend request immediately, he became eager hence the appearance of the lady was posh, as he saw from the pictures. They accelerated plans to meet with the aim of becoming intimate friends. The female lad acted as if she and the man have met before. He unhesitatingly agreed to meet with the lady at a particular spot in Abuja. They exchanged mobile phone numbers while the chat lasted. It was about 4pm.
Within two hours, Linda appeared where the man had directed they would meet. “My mobile phone rang and behold, it was Linda who told me she was outside the building as she was yet to alight from the cab that conveyed her. When we finally met in the place, of course, the lady was very beautiful and gorgeously dressed. We exchanged pleasantries before we went inside the cuisine to sit in order to share a drink.” Don said, as he was full of excitement about what transpired after the meeting.
According to him, “we sat there discussing about our likes and dislikes. Through the discussion, we got to know our real names hence the ones on the Facebook were not real. She also told me where she stays and I did same. It was all fun as the lady was very jovial and conversational. True, no right thinking man with blood running through his veins can wish to miss such a wonderful lady with mien of beauty. I quickly trip, just as she was all over me, touching me in the right places.”
Don further explained: “it was getting to 6.30pm and because I had just closed from office, I was a bit tired and needed some rest. Ordinarily, I hardly go home at that time as I usually hang till 8pm to allow traffic gridlock on the popular Nyanya-Maraba road to less, before making my way home. But because of the girl’s cute appearance, I could not wait for long as I needed to know what’s up with her. I requested that she follow me home so she could know my aboard, in case she may wish to visit another time. She gladly obliged. That was how we went home. At home we shower, and headed to the sitting room. Ofcourse, the lady was very cooperative and ready to dance according to my tune. To my chagrin, she softly asked that we go to the bedroom. There, the game was just to set when she requested to know how much I will pay her for the service through the night, till day break.”
Even if Don had decided to turn down the negotiation on how much he could pay her at the end of the activity, their into each other and the salivating desire to do the needful changed the thought completely. He imagined how the night could be blossom and gloomy, performing the function and taking rest intermittently. Although, their friendship continued, each time the lady was to visit, they will speak on phone or chat through Facebook to negotiate payment.
Meanwhile, the use of the internet social platforms to gain partners in the illicit business is not restricted to the female folks alone, the men too are deeply involved. There are men who go to the social media platforms in search of women, whether as sex partners or wife material, are also making use of the general line of the trend.
Uche Ik’s experience typifies what other men are involved into. He hook to the Internet platforms all day, opening sites and accounts of ladies to view their pictures. He would send a friend request to any lady who he perceive can be willing to involve. Uche depict them through pictures, and he knows the kind of women that are into the illicit business. Anyone that falls cheaply to his game, the chatting begins and subsequently, they will exchange mobile phone numbers in order to arrange how to meet, possibly to sex for money or anyhow the case may be.
“That is how I do everyday. Sometimes, out of ten girls that I might chat, four or five will be willing to meet with me and to service me. I don’t have time to visit brothels or some kind of spots where prostitutes hang on the street at night. That is not the decent way to do it.” I.k said.
The Internet Social platforms
The platforms mostly used by people to engage the illicit business are Facebook, Badoo, Instagram and Twitter among others.
According to reports, Facebook began in February of 2004 as a school-based social network at Harvard University. It was created by Mark Zuckerberg along with Edward Saverin, both students at the college.One of the reasons credited for the rapid growth and popularity of Facebook was its exclusivity. Originally, to join Facebook you had to have an email address at one of the schools in the network. It soon expanded beyond Harvard to other colleges in the Boston area, and then to Ivy League schools. A high school version of Facebook launched in September of 2005. In October it expanded to include colleges in the U.K., and in December it launched for colleges in Australia and New Zealand. Facebook accessibility also expanded to select companies such as Microsoft and Apple. Finally, in 2006, Facebook opened to anyone 13 years or older and took off, overtaking as the most popular social network in the world.
Badoo was founded by the Russian entrepreneur Andrey Andreev and launched in London in November 2006. In 2007 it raised $30 million in funding.In January 2008, the Russian investor Finam Capital paid $30 million for a 10% stake in Badoo for expansion in Russia. As of 2009, Finam now has 20% ownership of Badoo.In September 2009, Blendr, “powered by” Badoo, appeared in the iTunes app store.In April 2011 Badoo was threatened by Facebook with an audit and potential removal if it didn’t make its Facebook app less viral.[10] According to Insidefacebook.com, during the week of January 11, Badoo was ranked 17th in growing Facebook apps. The official Badoo USA launch was on March 23, 2012, with Nick Cannon introducing the service in the United States. In April 2012, the company entered into a marketing agreement with the site, Hot or Not to display its members in the companies service.In February 2016, Badoo acquired LuLu, a mobile app that lets women anonymously review and rate men.
Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them either publicly or privately on the application, as well as through a variety of other social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr.Originally, a distinctive feature was that it confined photos to a square shape, similar to Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid SX-70 images, in contrast to the 4:3 aspect ratio typically used by mobile device cameras. In August 2015, version 7.5 was released, allowing users to upload media captured in any aspect ratio. Users can also apply digital filters to their images.
Also, Twitter is a free social networking microblogging service that allows registered members to broadcast short posts called tweets. Twitter members can broadcast tweets and follow other users’ tweets by using multiple platforms and devices. Tweets and replies to tweets can be sent by cell phone text message, desktop client or by posting at the Twitter.com website. The default settings for Twitter are public. Unlike Facebook or LinkedIn, where members need to approve social connections, anyone can follow anyone on publicTwitter. To weave tweets into a conversation thread or connect them to a general topic, members can add hashtags to a keyword in their post. The hashtag, which acts like a meta tag, is expressed as #keyword.
A Blessing, Also A Curse
Of all the Internet social platforms, apart from being a major means of communication, it is development driven and can variedly connect people socially, reuniting missing friends and enhancing their business partnership. But rather than be a total blessing for its gains, it is also a curse due to pain that goes with it.
Users have all over the country hailed the Internet platforms to have impacted positively in their lives. Some acquaint with people they have never met physically, within their local communities or in the foreign countries. For many people, the use of the internet platform has abundant gains as to acquiring knowledge, business connections and enlightenment on global issues. While women have devised the means as way of meeting men to get money through sex, men use it to link with female partners, obtain sex to satisfy their insatiable libido, after paying money.
Speaking on the gains of Internet platforms, Iorliam Shija, a historian and public affairs analyst, said although the disadvantages of the Internet social platforms are threatening but, he insisted, the gains are quite immeasurable.
“The use of Internet social platforms has a lot of gains. The advantages are many. Like me, using Facebook for instance is not for any commercial sex thing, I have met a good number of friends that today, are of very reasonable help to me. Some are within Nigeria while others are abroad. Many of them, since we met on the platform, have rendered each other one assistance or another, be it intellectually or business wise,”Shija stated.
Ofcourse, with Internet scam everywhere, the usage has become an opposite of what it meant to be as some Nigerians have taken to crime, rather than development. In Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja and other metropolitan cities in the country, things have really gone bad with the use of Internet social platform. Apart from outright deceit and dupe in huge sums of money from victims, it has also led to death of some persons who, at some extent, were played into hands of persons who have adherence to ritualism.
Mrs. Fola Joseph is a resident of Iyana area of Lagos. The housewife is visibly unhappy to the deadly dimension the use of the Internet social platform has taken. “We know of people here in Lagos who come with sad stories about their use of Internet, either they were duped or tricked. We heard of a story where a lady, Cynthia as was reported in the media to have met some people on Facebook and travelled all the way from Jos to Lagos, only to meet her death in a strange manner. Till now, we are aware the case is in court and the true position of how the incident happened is yet to be related. So people must have to be careful.”
Network of Commercial Sex Workers
On sex for money in Abuja communities through Internet platform, prostitutes refuse to let go. Indeed, this days, prostitutes who benefitted in most of the high-profile commercial sex activities have actually got connected through the Internet social platform. For instance, prostitutes who are considered as “big girls” are all hooked on Badoo such that foreigners that enter the country, quickly link up with them to get sex services.
LEADERSHIP Weekend visited some unwinding spots in Abuja including green gardens, cuisines and clubs. It was observed that the method of prostitutes hovering on the busy township roads in the city to get clients is gradually winding down. The sex workers prefer to hook with their clients on the Internet rather than hovering on the streets or in brothels.
Our correspondent was at the Jabi village located opposite Mr. Biggs in Jabi area of Abuja. Some of the commercial sex workers expressed satisfaction on the trending Internet prostitution. They said the era of hanging on the street or in brothels to sex for money is no longer in vogue.
In words that confirmed that the prostitutes prefer Internet commercial sex networking, a destitute who was met in the place and who simply gave her name as Endurance stated: “sex for money is not really a good business but some of us are into it due to condition. But instead of standing on the road for people to pick me, I will rather get guys on Facebook or twitter. Also, I am on Badoo and anybody that needs me, I am always willing to service the person adequately so far as I get paid.”
Anti-Social media Bill, In the Making or Quashed?
The proposed Anti-social media bill which was sponsored by an All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator from Kebbi State, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, had sought to regulate the practice of social media in the country. According to National Assembly sources, the sponsor said the bill’s intendment was to prevent unwarranted negative spotlight on public and political office holders. Even though the need to regulate prostitution on the social media platform was not part of the Bill, it however, subject of a heated debate as members of the public roundly want its inclusion. But the Bill was rejected.
Also, President Muhammadu Buhari had equally distanced himself from the proposed Social Media Bill that was being debated in the Senate. The President through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, stated that the principle of the bill was inconsistent with democratic ideals of free speech enshrined in the constitution of the land.
The Nigerian Senate had unanimously rejected the passage of the Bill, and asked the committee handling it to withdraw it forthwith. The Senators insisted that apart from the fact that public opinion was against its passage, it would amount to curtailing the freedom of expression of the people.
At the moment, there is growing concern from the generality of people as sex for money and other internet scam are on the rise through the social media platform, with the trend forging its ugly head with cases of deaths and money swindle. Analysts have posited that the federal government with National Assembly inclusive should reconsider measures to reenact the Bill to regulate the ugly situation before the situation gets out of hand.
[Source:-LEDERSHIP]
