Ways to identify runs girls – This topic is an extensive one and we won’t do justice to it by covering just the fun part, so, how about we get a little educative while still keeping it in mind that it’s meant to be a fun content?
Cool yeah? Fine, let’s do it.
Runs Girl Meaning
Runs girl is one of the most popular slangs that has been over-flogged and overused by Nigerians, both the old and the young.
What really is a runs girl, you ask. Well, it’s simple, runs girl is a term that emanated from the infamous word “prostitute” and as such, runs girl is synonymous with prostitution but to describe the term runs girl in detail, here are a few definitions culled from the internet;
According to an anonymous internet user, a Nigerian to be precise, a runs girl is just about any girl that “obtains” or in the literal sense of it collect money from a man in return for s*xual favors. There is something in-between; the collection of money from a man can be after or before the act and emphasis is placed on the time of collection because it might be days, weeks, months or even years before or after the act.
Notice something with these definitions, you say what? No? That’s not possible, read all over again, how about now? You still don’t get it, do you? The model of operation by runs girls is only slightly different from how prostitutes in different motels operate and to further buttress this point and widen the scope of this article, let’s take a deep dive into the history of prostitution in Nigeria, who’s with me? You? Okay! fine, glad to see someone’s at least following with keen interest, now grab a jug of water, this is about to get interesting *winks*
Prostitution in Nigeria has been around for centuries, since the times of our forefathers when ladies and married women play away matches and give it up for free, the act of paying money for s*x in Nigeria has since time immemorial been an act that is being condemned from time to time and besides condemnation, no other measure has been taken outside of verbal exchange of words to curb the practice, save for the northern states where they make use of the Islamic penal code otherwise known as Sharia law.
In southern Nigeria however, the activities of prostitutes, pimps, and brothel owners are being put in check by the Nigerian constitution where chapters 223, 224 and 225 states in detail the kind of sanction and punishment that’s to be meted out to those going against the prostitution law. Even though the Nigerian law frowns against prostitution, it only imposes a strict sanction on brothel owners and “cash” madams who traffic unsuspecting and underaged girls outside the shores of Nigeria for forced labor that’s mostly related to s*x for money. Full grown adults who resort to getting paid in exchange for giving up their body have no problem with the law as it is strictly their decision and on their own terms, nobody is forcing them to do it.
To fully understand how deeply rooted prostitution is in Nigeria, there’s need to take you as far back as the pre-independence era with Lagos city as a case study, from there, we move to prostitution and the activities of runs girls in the 20th century before rounding up with the societal view on open prostitution and runs in the present age.
During the pre-independence era in the city of Lagos, Nigeria by the 1900s when the economic activities of Lagos had a boom due to its many seaports, s*x had been commercialized as a result of the many tourists loaded with hard currencies trooping into the country. By the year 1916, commoditization of s*x had become prevalent and the colonial government seeing the need to act fast put a law in place to curb the practices, the law was known to go against solicitation by women but it was ineffective as it never tackled prostitution the way it should and commercial s*x workers were allowed to carry on and go about their normal routine as long as their activities do not disrupt the peace of the community where they are operating from.
Despite the newly enacted law, religious extremists remained unsatisfied as nothing would give them more joy and better sleep at night than to know prostitutes were off the streets of Nigeria which was what prompted the “Lagos Women League” to petition the police chief in 1923 seeking for the change in the recruitment laws of the police force which had earlier restricted women from joining the force.
The petition was aimed at curbing the patronage of s*x workers by policemen and to provide gainful employment for some of the women who were already neck deep into the act of taking money in exchange for access to their body. The society frowned against the act of prostitution so much that an artist took out time to produce a whole album circled around s*x workers, an album which he called Asewo/Omo Jaguda, an album release by Tijani Omoyele in 1932 regarding s*x workers as thieves and a bunch of criminals as they had been linked with some pretty notorious group of men in the past, deadly groups like the boma boys of Lagos and Jaguda had been at one time or the other linked to these night crawlers.
Before the Second World War, s*x workers in Nigeria had taken their trade off the streets and they had penetrated fun houses like brothels, bars, and cinemas in search for clients especially in the Lagos Islands known to be the abode of some of the country’s wealthiest men. S*x workers had over time been referred to by many names such as the famous label they carry all about now, Ashewo, which is a Yoruba word that loosely translates to people who change money, the Hausas call them Karuwaci, the Igbos, Akwunakwuna and Asape in some other parts of the country. Some of these s*x workers come from all over Nigeria to centralize and assemble in Lagos to better enhance their chances of getting rich clients that’ll spend heavily on them and at the end of their sojourn in the world of prostitution, they make a return trip to their various hometowns where they show off all of their wealth to whoever cares to check them out.
After the Second World War, the high ranking brutish officers made a shocking discovery about the link between soldiers at the battlefront living with s*xually transmitted diseases and the s*x workers in Lagos. Asides open prostitution by adults, young ladies, teenagers and tender women were being forced into prostitution for the money, one which won’t be handed over to the people trading their body for money, instead, a self-acclaimed madam sitting at a corner in her flat will claim all of the money and give the teenagers only a token that’s usually not enough for feeding. This newly discovered phenomenon forced the hands of the British as a new law was enacted in 1941, one that clamped down on prostitution of any kind, whether by full-grown adults or otherwise, an act which led to the birth of a mini-militia group called the “anti-vice squad” that sees to it that offenders and every other person that goes against the newly imposed law are dealt with under the course of the law.
The law back then wasn’t as harsh as we thought it is, it only required for prostitutes to be registered and do their thing in private without littering red light areas for customers. By 1942, a hostel was built for the rehabilitation of child prostitutes who would be detained for a full year and then released after they might have had a change of mind about prostitution. It was not until 1946 that the Nigerian lawfully recognized the activities of s*x workers and prohibited it in its constitution.
In the 20th century, right after Nigeria’s independence in 1960, brothels and the activities of prostitutes that seemed to have experienced some kind of dearth period had a boom again and the welfare and social services set up to tackle the menace of child prostitution took a back seat and totally relaxed in its efforts to clamp down on children being used as s*x objects. By the early 1980s, lots of areas in Lagos city had turned into a red-light district where prostitutes display their bodies for intending customers to have a sneak peek to make choosing a company for the night an easy task based on physical preference of the client, streets of Allen Avenue, Oshodi, Ikeja and Kuramo Beach was flooded with prostitutes of all skin colors, tribe, and nationality.
When the police force got tired of the cat and rat chase, they joined in constituting a public nuisance as the few loitering prostitutes they get to arrest never showed for court proceedings, the men in uniform resorted to harassing, assaulting and forcefully having their way with the prostitutes. Local runs as in prostitution all over Nigeria was what seemed like the norm at the early boom of the menace before it took a turn for the worse and evolved from just a local issue to be worried about to a global issue that’s a cause for concern prostitution grew into a transcontinental business in the late 90s when trafficking of ladies and underaged girls to European countries especially Italy gained grounds. In many instances of transcontinental prostitution, coercion was fingered as the main push behind the act as unsuspecting victims were promised jobs and a better life over the shores of Nigeria but before then, the facilitator of their trip would have made them swear an oath administered by an African Traditional Religion or juju priest who for the potency of the charm request for weird personal effects of the victims such as bodily fluids and all other related items used to administer the oath and seal the agreement.
On getting to the destination country, the victims were made to realize that they are forever indebted to the facilitator of their trip to the tune of some huge amount of hard currency and to pay back and not be an ingrate, there is need for them to sell their body to willing men then remit the money to their facilitator until his/her greed is satisfied which rarely happen in most cases, the facilitators are never satisfied and the victims who managed to get their freedom either found favor in the eye of a client who decided to pay off their debt out of generosity or the victim was just plain lucky t find an escape route when the facilitator was not looking. Some scholars have argued that the menace of prostitution in Nigeria gained more grounds in the late 90s due to the fall in oil prices and the implementation of some programs put in place by the government which saw brothels spring up in every little-unclaimed space in the cities, these brothels accommodated prostitutes who moved from various regions to the city just to trade their body for money, these set of young ladies were charged a set fee for accommodation on a daily basis.
Runs girls in all its glory showed signs of manifestation when young graduates and undergraduates alike took up call-ups and part-time prostitution for some extra cash to either fuel their ego by getting what their parents couldn’t afford or just to get some tuition money, all these was in the late 90s. The moral decadence of some politicians saw to the growth and sustenance of runs girls as the few politicians accommodated in rich people areas requested to have a taste of young students who were and still referred to as call girls. These girls enjoy all the luxuries of life as the politicians spend lavishly on them and even sponsor their trips to various countries just for the fun of it.
In Benin City, however, the assembly of prostitutes had since time immemorial been the Ugbague Street which was dominated by young Esan women who were locally referred to as Ashawo.
Away from the history bit to the current time and age, the 21st century where all concerning the trade has been perfected, prostitution and human trafficking continue to thrive even more in Nigeria. Based on a statistics released by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, between 8,000 – 10,000 Nigerian women have been confirmed to engage in the prostitution trade in European countries like in Italy between 2000 – 2009. Even worse, transcontinental prostitution facilitators had again set their eyes on child trafficking for s*x and an alarming number of Nigerian teenagers has been reported loitering around in Abidjan, a prominent city in Cote d’Ivoire.
In Nigeria, prostitutes are commonly found in the premises of brothels but for students and unemployed graduates who are looking to earn some money by selling their bodies, they have brought a change to the game of prostitution as they are like every other person in the day with prostitution as a side hustle, these set does not stay in brothels and pays no rent to no one but there are no restrictions to the areas they can cover as regards providing their services, everyone is their potential client so far money will exchange hands; these set of ladies are fondly referred to as call girls or Aristos.
These young graduates sometimes do little or nothing in the process of getting laid for money except to get the agreed cash after the delivery of service, the rest of the process is usually handled by pimps and call up platforms with some frequenting bars and restaurants to better enhance their luck of getting a client, this usually happens when the call girls are broke and any man with some amount of money will do just fine. In universities, however, some hostel porters act as pimps and act as a link between the so-called runs girls and well to do men who are just looking for some side action.
These girls mostly serve well loaded Nigerians who find it easy to throw money around at will without poking a hole in their pockets; foreigners are also a good prey as they pay even more to have access to some ebony booty. A large percentage of brothels and street s*x workers are bar girls, traders, hairdressers and ladies with every other type of job. Brothels are scattered around every major city in Nigeria and they charge even less for s*x as they are mostly situated in highly populated areas and slums within the city.
Rounding up, I am almost certain my readers won’t forgive me if I fail to write a line or two on the most advanced of them all, corporate prostitution. Lagos residents can relate to this more, have you ever been walking on the streets of Lagos, minding your own business and one aunty who is a Lagos runs girl from nowhere will just drag your shirt a little to get your attention with the sentence that follows immediately being “Uncle, I will open it for you, just put something”?
These are mostly pretty ladies from various financial institutions in the country looking to meet the financial target placed on them as marketers of whatever financial institution they work for, don’t get me wrong here, not all these ladies are wayward but, we can’t just discard the reality of things by not wanting to hurt some set of people. The menace of corporate prostitution is not in any way new as it started gaining some grounds in the early 2000s.
Corporate prostitution is like every other form of prostitution that has been highlighted in this article, it’s the same modus operandi, ladies exchanging their bodies for financial gain, in this instance, the ladies and women involved sleep with men to make them open an account with the financial institution they work for. This is not in any way done out of coercion by the said financial institutions but out of necessity by the females who reckon with how hard it is to secure another job and will do anything to keep the current one that’s paying the bills.
Okay, enough of the epistle, let’s get down to the types of runs girls after which we round everything up with how to identify runs girls, types of runs girls;
NB: if you have ever collected money from a man you are not married to or dating in exchange for s*x, no matter how clever you try to be about it by collecting the money weeks before the act or weeks after, there is no dodging the truth, you are a runs girl.
Did I hurt your feelings?
Aww! Sorry sister, I just have to wake you up to the reality of what you are, there’s no shame in it, what is worth doing at all is worth doing well, so, embrace yourself and cheer up eh! Now to the main list.
How to know a runs girl
1. The ignorant runs girl
This ignorance of these set of young girls is usually caused by two people, they themselves and the person they are involved with, some girls choose to ignore the fact that they collect money for s*x while some don’t even know they are only being used as a s*x worker and what they think is a loving relationship with a caring dude who throws money around is just a dude paying them for s*x as he doesn’t trust the girls in brothels.
2. The runs girl in denial
These ones are actually runs girls to the core but they hide under the umbrella of “I’m using the guy” to cover their shame. To know if you fall into this category, take out some minutes to fill out this form;
Have you ever taken money from a man who is not related to you by blood or you are not married to?
- Yes
- No
Has he slept with you?
- Yes
- No
If your answer to these two simple questions is a resounding yes, congratulations my sister, you are a fine runs girl in disguise.
3. The confident runs girl
These are the movers and shakers of the runs girls industry, they reckon with being a runs girl because of the many benefits they can easily show off as a result of engaging in the act. These set are financially buoyant and they only deal with top of the league men and even ply their trade outside the shores of Nigeria.
How to identify runs girls in Nigeria?
Party Regular
Runs girls are always littered around the clubbing space they can also be found in lounges and other entertainment spots at night. These are the places where they get to meet likeminded people who are potential customers. These girls have upped their game a notch by roaming around the parking space and hang out spots in the various Nigerian malls.
Dressed seductively
Being that there is no shame in the game, runs girls sell s*x with their dressing by getting all dolled up seductively to give a better view of what they have to offer with seductive dressing that shows their every curve, however, dressing s*xy for the day is different from dressing to sell s*x, do not confuse the two in order to not get embarrassed by approaching a decent lady with s*x offers. Seasoned guys do not need this kind of warning as they can smell a runs girl from miles away.
Short on conversations
Runs Girls don’t have the time to beat around the bush with pleasantries and formalities with always make conversations with them as short as possible, you agree on a price for the service(s) that’s about to be offered, you hook up, pay and forget she ever existed.
No credible source of income
Just like internet fraudsters with lots of money but with no credible source of income, yeah, runs girls don’t have one too; you only sight them rocking the most expensive of the gadgets and accessories with no steady job. Asides club promoters who are pardoned from being in the club on working days; any other girl with no affiliation with the club hanging around on working days is a what? A runs girl.
Social Media Prefect
Runs girls have a thing for social media has it gives them the liberty to advertise themselves to an audience scattered all over the globe. That way, they don’t have to worry about getting Nigerian clients alone; they can boost their profile by landing an oyinbo that will boost their status by paying in hard currencies. They take advantage of social media platforms like tinder, Snap Chat, Instagram and the rest of them to show off what their mama gave them with the option of providing their email address when they can be contacted for bookings.
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