We discuss the question of Boko Haram in the northeast, especially in Borno State and environs most as a case of armed goons with overload of religious bigotry.

We also refer to dislocations from homes and farms and the crowded Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) centres. But we spend little time on the psychological spin-offs.

Recently, that came on the front burner with the shutdown of brothels at a place in Maiduguri called Kasuwan Fara in the Shagari low-cost area. Other brothels have been shut down in the recent past, but this one brings into high relief the decay that war brings to a society.

The other brothels shut down by the military were in Waluri, Bayan, Kwatas, Tudu Palace, to name a few. The end of business in these brothels led to concentration in Kasuwan Fara.

The victims are underage females, nubile innocents between 13 and 14 mostly, and their main “clients” are mainly soldiers and other uniformed men. They operate daily, and the girls seem to have no choice.

They do it to provide for themselves and their families. In some cases, their mothers are complicit and encourage their daughters to do it.

“We suffered years of torment and misery but with what we are seeing today, normalcy is setting,” a resident said.

The place is a buzz of activities at night. According to reports, one of the enablers is the proliferation of high-octane drugs. The girls who might have recoiled from yielding to the illicit sessions with the men ease into promiscuity after taking the drugs. The drug peddlers are integral to the brothels because the girls are encouraged to take the drugs before copulating with the men.

These are not just spoils of war. It is a story of how war spoils the young, and even children. The brothels were owned by well-known locals, including retired service men and security operatives, all of whom have deep connections to the high and mighty, including the military. They named a certain Kenneth, Ifeanyi and Monday. One of them is also called ‘Doctor’ because he works at a teaching hospital.

Efforts to shut down the place have been constantly resisted. In fact, the locals staged a recent protest that was to lead all the way to the palace of the Shehu of Borno. But the soldiers stopped the protest before they were able to make any traction. Some of the soldiers often helped to sustain the place by serving as intelligence assets and notify the operators when a raid was in the offing.

The consequence of the shutdown is that some persons who do legitimate businesses have been disallowed as yet to operate.

“There are traders doing their legal business at Kasuwan Fara, we appeal to the military to allow them back,” he said.

It is also one of the effects of the war against insurgency. It has birthed many widows and dislocated families. So very young persons have no family for prop or succour, and this has pushed them to work as house helps, labourers and farm hands. They often are at the mercy of powerful people against whom they have no prayers.

Rape is a common phenomenom in the area. The commissioner for justice, Hauwa Abubakar, said 80 percent of cases reported to the ministry are rapes and rape-related. In fact, she said five out of every six files are on that case.

This is a serious matter. To solve it does not require the mere shutting down of brothels. There is a serious matter of survival for the young folks who need to go to school, have sustainable means of income, enjoy the support of families and government and look into the future with cheer.

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