Langtang is a town in Plateau State, Nigeria. The town which is connected to Shendam, Kanam and Wase through paved roads has the local government secretariat situated at the heart of the town. For many years, Langtang has remained a quiet town, only in the news circa 2010 – 2012 for the Jos Riots. Not the town you open a regular newspaper to see as it relates to events and news reporting. However, the town came to national prominence this week for an unjust cause.

The Cable Newspapers had on October 30, 2017 published a detailed investigation as it relates to how a security guard at the Federal Government Girls College FGGC Langtang pimps school girls for outsiders in a sex for money deal.

The security guard that was primarily stationed to maintain the security of the students was the main source of insecurity to the girls. This was going on under the leadership of a school principal who has chosen to remain wilfully aloof of the plight of the girls in her care and tried to protect herself from scrutiny with government bureaucracy when she asked by the investigate team at the Cable to either comment or take action.

What happened to the girls in Langtang is no different from what happens to hundreds of girls and women who are trafficked to Europe for forced sex work. The difference is that one is brazen while the other is “coded” . They’ve devised a means of leaving the school premises to meet their “customers” when they should be studying hard, no thanks to their gatekeeper from hell.

The guard has devised a means of getting the girls to nearby hotel for cheap sex with would be customers for as little as N5,000. There is no mention of protection or safe sex, which at least if one is going to farm out underage girls for sex work, should be non-negotiable.

Even if we admit that the security guard failed in his duty to protect the girls from outside elements and ensure that they remain in the school premises, and the Principal also failed in her administrative and managerial responsibilities, how do we then explain the owner of the hotel where these girls used as meeting point for their client? Are the legal implications of being caught aiding and abetting statutory rape, sexual assault and prostitution through their business not enough incentive if the wrongness of it all doesn’t suffice? What about the clients that are nothing other than paedophiles that take pleasure in young girls in their primitive stage of life?

How do we fix a problem that is so complex, that implicates so many people who otherwise come off as innocent in the exploitation of these girls?

Adesina Tosin Nathaniel
The Injustice Blog

Editor