New naira: Sex workers decry low patronage

As a result of the scarcity of the new naira notes, some commercial sex workers in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has raised concerns over the low patronage in their business.

In an interview with News Agency of Nigeria, on Sunday, February 19, some of the women claim the scarcity of the new naira has crippled their businesses.

According to them, the implementation of the currency swap has become a challenge to their business.

Miss Alexandra Tricia (not her real name), a commercial sex worker, said her customers had reduced drastically due to the current cash scarcity, adding that the crisis is frustrating.

"The business is no longer booming like before because there is no cash anywhere.

"Some of my customers will come and after negotiations, they will ask if I have an account so they can transfer the money to me.

"When I give them the account number, they will press their phones and tell me that they have transferred some money.

"The worst part of it is that you will see their own alert in their phones but most times you will not get your own alert.

"They will want you to start the service immediately without you getting an alert and when you refuse, some of them will start making trouble.

“ In fact, there is one of my colleagues that a customer sent a transfer alert to but up till now, the money is still pending but she has serviced the man,” she said.

Another sex worker, Miss Ifedi Ote (also not her real name), a university dropout, said the current crisis has caused many of her colleagues in the business to leave temporarily.

"Clients who have cash will price you as low as N1,500 to N3,000.

"When you refuse, they will tell you that the amount is the only cash they have on them and because I need cash, I will be forced to accept the price.

"Even the Point of Sale agent where we usually direct our customers to for money has suddenly run out of cash for the past two weeks.

"I think this policy is a good one because it is meant to curb crime but the banks are not implementing it well,” she said.

Another commercial sex worker, called on the government to resolve the crisis surrounding the naira scarcity.

BS