“Ngozi my daughter, na Lagos you dey go so oooo abeg I use Chineke God beg you, remeba the pikin of who you are ooo. No follow all dose yeye girls dem wit long skinny legs, wey dey paint face like atilogu masquerades. Abeg my pikin, you know you are my favorite, darling daughter. God go bless you my sweet child.”
Those were the last words of advice Mama Ngozi gave her daughter when she left the village for Lagos. A precocious 14yr old girl.
Lagos meant the world to her, the Las-Vegas of Africa. Lagos taught her lessons worth of age, the streets toughened her but her constant question was; Where is all the money in Lagos?
All her neighbours in her age bracket were looking so different especially Latifat, the ‘Unique’. The only lady who schools in UNILAG’s Ilorin Campus. Ngozi kept pondering on how she manages to shine despite the economic crunch. Latifat’s queer answer is “I am fed by the streets.” Ngozi got the heavy dose of the street lesson when she was raped by her neighbour; Bro Joshua. The same brother who took her to the first Church concert in Lagos. “Why? Where did i go wrong?” She probed the inside of her brain. Latifat gave her another queer answer “Live with it, play with it and enjoy it ‘coz it pays”.
Ngozi has made her Mama proud at last, after 5yrs in Ilu Eko, she learned hard and well. Ngozi resides in Ijora now, a suburb of Lagos. A place where the street bites hard and deep. She has her own rented room and charges A thousand Naira upwards for services well done.
Another victim of the STREET…..
By Leo Parker
