segun akande

<h1>Either by nature or the influence of time and other cultures, it’s fair to say Nigeria is a marriage-crazed society.</h1>

Here, everything that is related to the union of man and woman is more significant than you’d expect.

Without a doubt, the most accentuated of all these is the wedding, the act of tying two together as one.

In recent years, a typical Nigerian wedding has gone from a relatively intimate experience to something between a carnival and a church revival.

In all fairness, most single persons defiantly insist they will have <a data-link-role-code="open_new_tab" href="https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/relationships-weddings/court-wedding-in-nigeria-here-are-5-benefits-and-advantages-of-having-one/p9hfn26">small weddings</a>, nothing of the sort that we are becoming used to.

“People have different opinions about weddings,” says Adebusoye Kunle, CEO of KLALA Photography, a Lagos firm that documents weddings, “In a typical couple, the bride may want it large. Sometimes, the groom wants it small and it becomes an argument.”

But whatever you think you want is usually a story for the gods.

Parents have a say in how big a wedding gets [TWP]

Over a year before announcing his engagement, Banky W shared an interesting post on Snapchat. In it, he said that small weddings are the best and he would not be doing “that huge Lagos wedding move.”

Footage also surfaced of a single Adesua Etomi sharing her preference for a small wedding with a reporter. “It definitely won’t be a big wedding,” she said, “You guys won’t even see pictures.”

Well, the actor and singer got married in November 2017; and not only did we see pictures and videos, their union was the&nbsp;biggest story of that weekend.

In a world where it doesn’t happen if it’s not on social media, their wedding even had its own hashtag: #BAAB17.

So what happened to change the couple’s minds? Why did they, like the rest of us mortal beings, give in? What is that Nigerian spirit inside of us that loves to get united in marriage to the sound of live bands in front of as many people as the hall can contain?

ALSO READ: <a data-link-role-code="open_new_tab" href="https://www.pulse.ng/entertainment/celebrities/5-beautiful-nigerian-celebrity-weddings-that-are-simply-unforgettable/04wm8dh">5 beautiful Nigerian celebrity weddings that are simply unforgettable</a>

Our parents have to take some of the credit for this. Remember that time you mentioned small weddings to your parents and they said God forbid.

You thought it would end there but they launched a manifesto stating what stadium they would rent and how many family members would fly in from Europe.

For some reason, the older generation sees a wedding ceremony as more than just a solemnisation or uniting of two people.

For them, it is a symbol of success, proof their children have reached an important milestone and become adults.

It is not something to hide away in a secret location with 20 odd people, it is something to be proud of.

The older generation sees a wedding ceremony as more than just a solemnisation of two people [TWP]

There’s also the “family and friends” factor. Weddings nowadays also serve a double function as social gatherings where old connections are re-established and relatives catch up with each other.

The bigger the wedding is, the better chance there is for family,&nbsp;friends and acquaintances to connect, catch up and rebuild relationships.

God forbid there isn’t enough space because you saw a photo of Jay-Z and Beyonce and decided on a small, intimate wedding.

“The wedding is not only for the bride and groom,” Adebusoye says, “it is also an avenue for both families around the world to reunite so most times, the couple can’t decide, especially when the parents are the ones financing the wedding.”

Whatever sentiments drive the influence of parents in a wedding, it is usually stronger for the bride’s parents.

<h3>Marriage is one of the world’s oldest and strongest institutions</h3>

From a young age, women are raised to be good wives and mothers, often at the expense of what is actually important. It only makes sense that when it is time for them to become wives, much importance is attached to the act and the ceremony. To be honest, this culture has also affected the way many women see marriage themselves.

Those sentiments were echoed in We Should All Be Feminists, an essay from Chimamanda Adichie’s TEDx talk of the same name. In it, she wrote “…Because I’m female, I’m expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important…”

When a woman who has been made to believe this reaches what she has been aspiring to, it’s obvious that she wants it to be as big a celebration as possible.

In a way that’s what it is all about, aspiration. Ours is a very aspirational society; even when we do not have the means to pull off a massive spectacle, we are not reluctant to go beyond our means to raise funds to make it happen.

<a data-link-role-code="open_new_tab" href="https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/relationships-weddings/7-things-unique-to-yoruba-weddings/mpsbp52">A massive wedding</a>, with media coverage, high-quality aso ebi, agbadas and dresses, delicious catering and possibly a hashtag is portrayed as an ideal; every girl’s dream.

When she achieves it, and posts the photos everywhere, it puts pressure on the next bride-to-be who feels as if her wedding must be on that level or close. From there, it’s an endless cycle.

All that pressure is not going to waste, of course. Since social media increased the scale of the spectacle, entire industries have sprouted from Nigerian weddings.

There are make-up artistes, catering firms, interior decorators to beautify the hall, wedding photographers that capture the ceremony, designers that create dresses and agbadas. Need I continue?

Of course, it is impossible to ignore the role these people play in selling the big wedding as the perfect wedding.

“Wedding planners show a preference because planning a big wedding is more profitable,” says Demilade, a Lagos-based wedding planner. “When you successfully pull off big weddings, you also get more connections. That’s what’s important; everyone prays for bigger and better jobs.”

Ultimately, <a data-link-role-code="open_new_tab" href="https://www.pulse.ng/business/international/heres-how-much-weddings-cost-in-these-5-african-countries/ktxhr0x">it’s all about the money</a>.

Everything related to the union of man and woman is more significant than you’d expect [Bridal Guide]

Black couple on wedding day [Bridal Guide]

When it’s all said and done, there is a possibility that when the wedding bells toll, the desire for a good celebration trumps our personal preferences.

Everyone loves a good party and they hardly come better than a wedding ceremony. The focus is on new beginnings, good food, lots of drinks and a good time. Few things trump that.

In all of this, it is important that the focus does not shift from the people who really matter; bride and groom. Unfortunately, this happens too often.

“We’ve seen instances where couples didn’t enjoy their big day,” Adebusoye adds, “The parents came to oppress each other and King Sunny Ade was only singing for the parents. The DJ didn’t even get to turn up.”

Big weddings are healthy but they must not come at the expense of the couple’s privacy, financial security or the foundation of their co-existence as a union.

To be fair, this culture of big weddings has become much bigger than a simple cultural phenomenon. Clips of Nigerian grooms and brides dancing have gone viral in recent months. The entire idea of a Lagos wedding was also the inspiration and reference for one of the biggest movies of 2016, The Wedding Party.

So, maybe our obsession with big weddings is a good thing. Nigerians have turned brides and grooms into content creators. We have birthed an indigenous ecosystem worth billions of naira a year,&nbsp;from what was simply a mundane four-hour long ceremony.

It may be difficult to pull one off, but considering what we have made of it, it’s easy to see why anyone would consider saving up to continue what is already a tradition of sorts.

This article was originally published in 2018.

Banky W, Adesua Etomi and AY Makun in "The Wedding Party"

In recent years, a typical Nigerian wedding has gone from a relatively intimate experience to something between a carnival and a church revival.

How big wedding ceremonies became the most attractive option for Nigerians

<h1>He was whipping up a popularity that had fizzled out since Nigerian politicians in the First Republic discarded the trust of the Nigerian people, but that counted for nothing when 42 years ago today, on the 13th of February 1976, General Murtala Ramat Mohammed,</h1>

Today, anyone who has grown around the typical Nigerian displays of power would have a hard time understanding why a sitting military head of state would drive through Lagos traffic with no security.

Yet this was only a reflection of the genteel and almost reckless lack of self-importance with which Murtala, as he was fondly called by most Nigerians, went about his business.

Born on 9 November 1938 in Kano, one of his parents’ 11 children, Murtala joined the army at the age of 19.

Within 10 years, on the strength of his work ethic and numerous degrees and training programs, he was made Colonel, barely 30 at the time.

During this time, Murtala played a role in unseating Aguiyi Ironsi from power, after the latter took the seat in January 1966.

ALSO READ: <a href="" id="7d2c40ca-8b0b-5ee7-bad3-7e0b28ad1c14">How a meeting in Ghana changed Nigeria forever</a>

On 29th July 1975, General Yakubu Gowon was overthrown while attending the 12th summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Kampala, Uganda.

Muhammed, who had just recently been made Federal Commissioner for Information (equivalent to the role of Minister for Information and Communication in today’s administration) took power as the new Military Head of State.

Murtala, with Olusegun Obasanjo as Chief of Staff, Defence HQ, (a role which was practically the same as being Vice President), set about changing a lot of the policies and overhauling the institutions that had made Gowon unpopular in his final days in power.

Within the short span of 201 days, he was able to restore a love for the nation, a clear sense of patriotism that had been lost when Nigeria’s first civilian leaders first began to show that having the key to the vault means that money will begin to vanish and then show up in unexpected places, in expensive cars and fat bank accounts.

After the rigours of the civil war, Murtala set about to re-organising and demilitarising a large wing of the Nigerian army, reducing the total number of active soldiers by 100,000.

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As head of state, Muhammed put in place plans to build a new Federal Capital Territory due to Lagos being overcrowded.

A panel headed by Justice Akinola Aguda chose the Abuja area as the new capital ahead of other proposed locations.

On February 3, 1976, Muhammed announced that the Federal Capital would in the future move to a federal territory location of about 8,000 square kilometres in the central part of the country.

After it was alleged that the 1973 census was heavily weighted in favour of the North, Murtala cancelled and nullified the results, much to the pleasure of the other regions who were desperate for equal representation.

These actions reflected the ethos of a man who felt he would treat everyone as he wished to be treated.

Murtala was seen as very upright and he dealt with his colleagues and everyone else with a sense of expectation.

Many in that time say he was a natural born leader, charismatic, direct and ambitious. His decisiveness, especially, won him popular support among Nigerians.

However, Murtala was a young soldier from the North. Among his region and other soldiers who felt they deserved a bigger say in the direction of the country, his changes seemed too abrupt, too radical, too intense even. Some called him mercurial.

Ultimately, coupled with his belief that his reckless abandon, this led a group of soldiers to call time on his government and cut him down in his prime.

On February 13, 1976, General Murtala Ramat Mohammed was on his way to work in Dodan Barracks. While sitting in his Black Mercedes Saloon Car along with his Aide-De-Camp (ADC), Lieutenant Akintunde Akinsehinwa, he was ambushed by a group of soldiers.

Murtala, along with his entourage, was killed in a hail of bullets, a task that was made all the easier because the only visible sign of protection was a pistol carried by his orderly.

His assassination was part of a coup attempt led by Lt. Col Buka Suka Dimka, who was the head of the Nigerian Army Physical Training Corps. On killing the Head of State, the coup plotters swung into action, taking, first, the media.

Murtala had made a meal of nationalising private media, including the two largest newspapers and strengthening the reach of state-owned media, particularly the radio network.

Around late afternoon, on that day, <a href="http://www.pulse.ng/news/local/article5899687.ece" id="fa9cad83-3bea-5179-bee6-a0d19c993f52">Dimka announced on the radio that the Young Revolutionaries had taken over the government</a>. He went ahead to declare a 12-hour curfew.

His message was played throughout the day on radio alongside martial music.

This development heightened an already tense atmosphere. Many knew that Murtala had been killed and in a country where war was only a recent memory, there was already a rumour-based list of things to expect.

Dimka’s announcement confirmed that this was an attempt, however successful, to wrestle power from the government.

It threw everyone and everything into a state of pandemonium. In Lagos, people were too scared to come out of their homes and go to work, for fear of reprisal attacks by troops loyal to Murtala or a tussle between both sides.

The disorder and confusion were not limited to Nigerians alone.

How Arthur Ashe and Pele almost got trapped in Nigeria

Nigeria in the 70s was enjoying a massive oil boom. The proceeds of this new found wealth made its way into building infrastructure and making cities like Lagos a desirable destination for the West and corporate concerns.

The coup happened while the city of Lagos was playing host to the World Championship Tennis Pro Circuit Series.

Players like Arthur Ashe, Jeff Borowiak and Dick Stockton were vying for the prize money while enjoying the many bounties that Lagos has to offer.

Stockton had informed his colleagues at the Federal Palace Hotel where they were staying, of the coup after Paul Svehlik, the WCT tour manager had called him to tell him about the assassination.

Further down the hall, the Brazilian football legend, Edson Arantes de Nascimento, or Pele as he is known the world over, was listening to the radio. He had come to the country as part of a tour sponsored by Pepsi.

From the moment that the first bullets rang out and Dimka’s voice went on the radio, their lives were suddenly at risk.

Troops loyal to the Federal Military Government made an attempt to take back the radio station from the coup plotters.

ALSO READ: <a href="" id="8a4abf63-7079-5414-9081-f64133eb328d">How football legend, Arthur Ashe were trapped in Lagos during 1976 coup</a>

By 3.00 in the afternoon, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation went off the air. In the tussle, Dimka narrowly escaped being shot.

In time, control of the radio was regained and with highlife music announcing its return, the radio station came back on the air.

By 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation went off the air. The Federal Government wanted to take over the radio station from the coup plotters.

Dimka narrowly escaped from the gunfire. After the premises was recaptured, the radio station came back on the air with highlife music.

By evening, the Federal Government announced that the coup was successful and a curfew was still in effect.

The silence over Murtala’s death was raised when on February 14, the Federal Government announced that Murtala had died and Olusegun Obasanjo was the new Head of State.

The FG also announced a seven-day mourning period for the slain leader.

The sentiment at the time, and it is one that remains to this day, was that the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had murdered Murtala. Nigeria was not the place for any foreigner to be in those days.

The foreign contingent of the WCT faced some trouble in leaving. The military disrupted the rest of the games, entering into the courts and ordering everyone out with automatic rifles and clubs.

Players, support staff and journalists got the brunt of the soldiers’ anger.

One of them, a Daily Mail tennis correspondent John Parsons was hit by a club by a soldier, leaving an 18-inch scar on his back. Parsons was on his way to the Reuters office in Lagos to file the breaking story when he was assaulted.

Eventually, after much maneuvering, the Federal Military Government provided transport for the players and they left the country.

Pele, on the other hand, found refuge in the home of the Brazilian Ambassador, before flying out of the country.

After Obasanjo was announced President, he set his efforts to bringing Dimka to justice.

The colonel had not been seen since he fled the premises of Radio Nigeria in Ikoyi after the coup so he quickly became the focus of a massive manhunt.

Dimka was eventually arrested in the company of a female companion, at Friendship Hotel in Afikpo, in Eastern Nigeria.

Following a court-martial, Lieutenant Colonel Dimka and another 38 military officers and civilians were executed by firing squad.

Looking back today, it says much that Murtala enjoys perhaps the cleanest legacy of any Nigerian military leader.

His biggest criticisms have come not from that era but from the civil war. Nigerians may forget but the people of Asaba remember when his division of the army murdered a majority of the town’s male population, creating an imbalance that is still evident till this day. That mass murder is known as the Asaba Massacre and it remains one of the biggest scars from the civil war.

Our failure to address that part of our history has played in his favour, as with many of his peers. But that takes nothing away from the work he did after.

Despite spending just over half a year in power, he left an imprint of dedication and empathy.

In return, Nigeria’s leaders have shown him love and appreciation.

He was the first Nigerian to have his depiction on Nigerian currency, specifically the 20 Naira note.

The International Airport in Lagos is also named <a href="http://www.pulse.ng/news/local/what-you-probably-didnt-know-about-nigerias-busiest-airport-id7578828.html" id="f0b0e890-2d9c-526d-8586-7424d883f42c">Murtala Mohammed Airport in his honour</a>

In almost every city or state of the country, there are streets, parks, gardens, buildings and other monuments named after him.

We hope today that the military era of Nigeria’s past is gone, for good, but while we have the benefit of hindsight, we will look back at days like that fateful morning in February and think about what it could have been.

On his way to work at Dodan Barracks, Murtala Muhammed was shot by soldiers loyal to Colonel B. S. Dimka

42 years ago, one of Nigeria's most promising leaders was assassinated

<h1>A year after Donald Trump became President in 2017, the United States’ Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported more Nigerian immigrants than it did in 2016.</h1>

Trump rode into the White House on the wings of strong "America for Americans" rhetoric. It was suggested that immigrants would be made to leave the country enmasse, but the number of people who have been forcefully deported is actually dropping, except for Africans.

Mexicans, and persons from other South American countries, were the brunt of his attacks during the campaign for the 2016 elections and the reactions to many of comments were furious.

For the top 10 African countries on ICE’s list, deportation has become much realer than a wave of sentiment, removals jumped by 140% to 1815 people removed in 2017, from 756 in 2016.

ALSO READ: <a href="" id="d28f979f-19eb-5671-bae0-9ceed0a94cc2">Austria plans to train 1,000 Nigerians facing deportation</a>

<a href="http://www.pulse.ng/gist/pop-culture/article7867618.ece" id="406f0a1e-4597-5aaf-ad26-ea32f3bfa3cc">Emigration is viewed by many Nigerians as an opportunity more than anything else</a>. Among the list of choice destinations, America ranks high, along with the United Kingdom and much of Europe.

London has always held more appeal than New York, thanks to the old colonial relationship and proximity.

After the Mutallab incident, the US systemically tightened restrictions on immigration from Nigeria, especially young and middle aged Muslim men.

President Trump’s "shithole comments" regarding immigrants from unspecified countries in Africa, took the whole by storm. But they were not too surprising considering the reputation that his bigoted rants have built on his behalf.

Many African leaders may have been tempted to think it was another iteration of his typical loud mouth but now, the numbers from his administration are implying he is willing to back these words up with action.

In 2017, 312 Nigerians were forcefully removed from the United States, as against 242 persons in the previous year.

This is on top of more stringent visa rules.

ALSO READ: <a href="" id="ad393b8f-2f6b-55ad-89ff-f4a65a9d3604">Are people smugglers the good guys or bad guys?</a>

The new disposition towards Africans has many worried. It is only natural that Nigerians, eyes set on the outside, are turning to other parts of the map.

In the last decade, Ukraine has become a choice spot for educational tourism. Instead of carefully-planned trips across the Pacific, Nigerians are camping near the Horn of Africa, at enclaves in Zanzibar and Mauritius, on holiday.

With Brexit looming and <a href="http://www.pulse.ng/gist/pop-culture/article7906641.ece" id="7d8222e1-8f73-50da-9378-8b8f316bf911">Europe’s stronger stance against immigration from Africa,</a> inspired by nationalist leanings, the possibility of chasing greener pastures outside the continent is getting slimmer for Nigerians, and the continent.

It makes an already present burden all the more urgent; most Nigerians leave due to less than ideal conditions; a poor standard of education, unemployment and rabid corruption in both public and private life.

Nigeria's population is expected to increase by over 50% in the next 20 years and with that, its problems will be amplified.

The country already sputters under the pressure of ethnic tensions and a struggling economy. How it prepares for this inevitable future will determine its integrity in coming years.

As it stands, going out to seek fortune and security is out of reach of the average Nigerian. The people will need the country to give them a shot, if they are to take one at making a life here too.

The number of Nigerians chased out of Trump's America rose in 2017

There is less room for Nigerians in Trump's America

It’s 1943. Mary, a young girl, sits in the corner of a small, dark room in Lagos Island. She starts to think of home and better times when her madam calls out to her, loudly. It is time, again.

She walks into the open area to see a white man, probably English, smile at her with tobacco stained teeth. Mary knows, but she is not sure she can do what is being asked of her, what has been asked so many times before.

Her madam puts her hands in this oyinbo’s cold hands and gestures towards the room. But Mary is tired, so she pulls her hand away and shakes her head... NO.

Mary is a sex worker, and ‘NO’ is not a part of that line of work. So her madam smiles and holds her hand again, but Mary pulls it back.

The next time her madam’s hand comes up, it is a clenched fist that lands on Mary’s face. Then her torso, and her face again. She screams and tries to deflect the blows, but her tiny arms only flail as she falls to the ground.

She hears footsteps, running, other workers come to see what is happening, but they stand there, no-one tries to help her.

She tries to call out someone’s name but she cannot hear her own voice. She wills herself to stand, raise her arms, do something, anything but nothing is happening.

By the time her madam regains her senses, and her temper dies down, Mary is dead, a lifeless heap of flesh and bones on the cold floor.

However interesting it may seem, the story of the Nigerian sex worker does not begin here.

Our very creative grandparents first called the sex worker ‘Ashewo’ in the 1930’s but it doesn’t start there either.

There is a reason why prostitution is called the world’s oldest profession.

The sex worker is as old, perhaps older, than Nigeria herself but when the colonial government first tried to ban prostitutes in 1916 - they were not just around, they were everywhere.

The European expatriates and young professionals of old Lagos had a massive appetite for Nigerian women, and the sex workers were willing to satisfy it, so they hung at every point they could find them - on street corners, in front of office buildings, cinemas, clubs, chain stores especially on Lagos Island.

When Mary Efoghere died, the reaction from the public was one of pain, disgust and anger; naturally, the government stepped in.

By 1946, the ashewos of Lagos were an endangered species.

Then, in 1960, the English dusted their bags and left.Nigeria became an independent country.

A new generation saw an opportunity to pick up where their mentors left the hustle. The conditions were right, so the Nigerian sex worker rose again.

This time, their clients were different. Nigeria was a different country, more people could now afford to pay for a few minutes of mekwe. These sex workers realised that instead of chasing them around, they had to create places where those clients could find them.

In the following years, brothels sprung up all over Nigeria.

Weird MC sang about Allen Avenue in 1996, but she was 16 years late to the party.

In many ways, Ikeja was the unofficial national headquarters of sex workers at the time, but the street corners that they loved were all over the country. They were the places where the girls stood at night, waiting patiently, hoping for the best.

But more often than not, conversations went like this.

*cars drives into dimly lit street*

“Baby, come over and check me out. I go do you well."

“No, it’s too expensive. Collect 400 naira.”

“Comot here. Bastard. Na your mama dem go carry for 400 naira.”

“This one is old and rude. Let’s check young meat in front”

Because dark street corners are not for everyone and politicians like to have sex too, a new, higher level of sex workers emerged.

They werethe call girlsorescorts - undergraduates and exotic women who went the extra mile to look better than their mates on the street.

Their millionaire suitors, known as ‘aristos’ were wealthy and much older men who lived in high-brow areas like Ikoyi and 1004 apartments. They were men who could afford the luxury lifestyle the girls desired.

When the 70s welcomed the street hookers, they quickly filled up every space they could find.

The escort was an upgrade, the guarantee that if they could become the object of the right person’s desires, they could live the good life.

A lot of things were happening at this time; the military was killing the economy and oil prices were falling, so more women were trying to make a living any way they could.

The problem was, there could only be so many hookers in one place; so the most daring of the madams looked at their contacts in Europe, and decided it was time to expand the business.

Going into 1990, the number of girls that travelled from Nigeria to Italy for a life of prostitution ran into the thousands. As of today, a dazzling 80% of women that travel from Nigeria to Italy through Libya end up as sex workers in Europe.

But that is another story. Ours continues in Nigeria.

The age of the aristo continued late into the early 2000s.

In the eyes of the hooker, there were only two classes of Nigerians; on one hand, there was the upper-class— people who could afford aristos. On the other, you had the regular folk who, because food is more important than 10 minutes of happiness, could only afford the brothels or night warriors of Allen Avenue.

Then, one night,if you believe the stories, Abacha died at the hands of a prostitute.

With democracy came freedom and a new class of people. They were young and comfortable, professionals, entertainers and internet fraudsters — people with just enough newly-made wealth to enjoy few luxuries.

They wanted to taste the things that escorts could do to a man, and the money was there, but it was not enough to compete with Alhaji for his Unilag babe.

A new class of sex worker fondly called ‘olosho’ emerged to serve that need. She is very similar to the aristo, usually educated to some level with an ability to almost blend into whatever location she finds herself in.

The olosho is never a call away from anybody.

The average guy is too proud to walk past Allen Avenue to pick up a girl, and for him, a brothel is not an option, but this hooker knows that if she lures your attention for long enough, you will realise that your next few minutes of pleasure are just a short conversation away.

And just like that, she discovered how to solve the problem of her clients’ insecurities and shyness; by following them everywhere, and hiding in plain sight.

You are friends with more oloshos than you know.

In the following years, a new invention slowly became a part of our daily lives. Its name? The internet. When Facebook became a big deal in the late 2000s, Nigerians flocked there, buoyed by their smartphones and data plans, and the sex worker followed.

For her, It was like opening a branch on the internet; all she had to do was create a vague profile with a pseudonym and a few pictures that could get blood rushing to a man’s head.

Soon enough, she would begin to receive messages.

"Hey pretty. I think you look really good. Would you like to hang out? I can show you a really good time"

Simple and straight-forward, right?

A lot of the girls had friends and family that used Facebook; there was the chance that someone could always stumble on their profile and see things. So when Badoo came through, they knew they had to move.

Badoo has never pretended to be something it is not. It is an app for meeting members of the opposite sex and the sex workers understood that from the onset. When they joined the site and shared pictures of body parts begging to be set free, the business was on the rise again.

"You look like an angel, let me give you a place in the stars"

“Hey, you look like you have a nice package, let me unwrap it for you”

Badoo makes it very easy to discover new people, so the hookers found that they were getting too messages from guys trying to sweet-talk them into having sex for free. Tinder showed up later, a fancier version of Badoo with fewer options, but the case was the same.

So they gave us the phrase that is an invitation and a disclaimer at the same damn time.

What this means is simple; you can send messages until the end of the internet age, but unless you’re ready to pay for nacks, your efforts will fade away like smoke.

segun akande

Articles written by the author

How big wedding ceremonies became the most attractive option for Nigerians

42 years ago, one of Nigeria's most promising leaders was assassinated

There is less room for Nigerians in Trump's America

The evolution of the Nigerian Sex Worker

'Always maintain your standards' - Afua Osei on Aim Higher Africa Series