By Lillian Okenwa
A couple of weeks ago, a young boy suspected to be an internet fraudster aka yahoo boy died at a hotel in Aba, Abia State.
The 16-year-old teenager, Chinecherem Promise Albert, reportedly died early that morning while making incantations with his elder brother, 19-year-old Chimezie Joshua Albert.
Chimezie was said to have invited his younger brother, Promise to Eunice hotel at Milverton Avenue in Aba, for money-making rituals. Sadly, the 16-year-old died in the process of chanting incantations. The PPRO Abia State command, SP Geoffrey Ogbonna confirmed the incident.
Giving vent to anger, a social media user by the BRATISLAVA wrote: If it were a girl who died in a hotel room, you would see pages of insults about ladies (sorry, bitches and hoes) who want quick riches and aren’t ready to build with… and how the society has been destroyed by the daughters of Eve whose sexy videos they love to watch …, and how they never want to have girls as children… Nobody will write pages on the scourge of ill-bred Yahoo boys and their confederates who are murdering their way into 2010 Mercedes Benzes and parties ten years later.”
In the meantime, a video making the rounds online showed the moment a 15-year-old boy was confronted by a concerned adult after trying to lodge in a hotel with two adolescent girls. The youngsters — three boys and two girls, were trying to book a room when the man confronted them and inquired about their age. A 15-year-old who appeared to be the leader of the group said the room is not “actually for him.” When the adult went further to interrogate the young girls, quickly walked away while hiding their faces from the camera.
Not long ago, a hotel was uncovered in Ogun where underage girls sleep with men for between N500 and N1, 000. Two men were subsequently arrested alongside 14 underage girls who claimed to have been lured to the facility by friends from their respective villages. The girls said they pay their boss N1,000 daily for the accommodation, and they are forced to sleep with a minimum of four men daily at a fee ranging between N500 and N1,000 per client to achieve this. Besides sleeping with clients for money, it was also learnt that the men also slept with them any time they want. Those arrested at the hotel include its owner Gbenga Olayinka, his nephew Adekunle Oshineye, 28, and others. The hotel owner however denied knowing some of the girls were underage.
But, Nigerians are beginning to call for stiffer measures to check the growing trend of underage persons being allowed access to hotels, alcohol, and drugs. Chijioke Nwokonko, a lecturer in Ogun State, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that “government should implement a policy that mandates the checking of ID cards before entry into a pub, club or a hotel. The ID card should be checked to be sure that such a person has attained the required age limit to enable them to visit such an environment. But, there are instances where these underage children already have strong influences. They can call the manager to gain access and make the security man asking for an ID card look useless.”
Nwonkoko added that to ameliorate this problem, the government should create a law enforcement agency directly under the executive arm that would serve as the watchdog. “Such agencies should visit hotels and clubs at random in disguise and once they see anyone perceived as underage, their ID cards should be requested and if found wanting, both the management and the underage children should face the law.”
Mr. Oluomo Talabi, the President of, Lagos Hoteliers Association, said there had been measures to check underage persons from gaining access to hotels as the association strongly condemns the act. “The measures have been on from time, it’s just that this issue of immorality on the part of our children is just coming up now, no thanks to social media but notwithstanding, it is not something we condone as individuals and as an organisation.”
Following the rise in the abuse and exploitation of underage persons in hotels, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of Ekiti State, Mr. Olawale Fapohunda SAN has restated his warning to Hotel owners in the State, stressing the duty of care they owe minors. The Senior Advocate of Nigeria in a Facebook post to mark Children’s Day wrote: “On this occasion of Children’s day, my office is concerned about the increase in complaints about sexual exploitation of minors/school children in our Hotels.
“I have previously issued an advisory to hotel owners that they owe a duty of care to protect children on their property from sexual abuse. Their operations cannot simply be about making profits. Where a hotel staff has direct knowledge of the age of a child who is obviously in the hotel for the purpose of abuse, the hotelier will be criminally liable.
“My advisory urged hoteliers to pay special attention to young guests, both girls, and boys. Boys are also victims of sexual abuse, under the age of 18 who are taken into hotel rooms by one or more adults and who are verifiably not family members.
“I followed up this advisory with a number of meetings to further affirm the Fayemi administration’s Zero Tolerance Policy for sexual exploitation of minors.
“Yesterday, we commenced the prosecution of the owners and staff of the first of the four hotels we have identified, whose facilities are being used for the sexual exploitation and abuse of minors. This criminal prosecution is without prejudice to the civil suits my office will further initiate on behalf of the child victims.
“While the State Government is committed to removing all obstacles to doing business in Ekiti State, this cannot be at the expense of the welfare of our children. I wish all the Children in Ekiti State a Happy Children’s Day.”
