For strip clubs owners, especially Club Unique, Ikeja,
Lagos, which still parades young ladies who dance nude to the delight of its
teeming patrons, it is no longer business as usual, reports Vanguard.
The club, which was re-opened early last year by the State House of Assembly in
Lagos, after it was shut down alongside three other notorious clubs is
presently witnessing a dull moment.
The situation has necessitated the management of the club to
embark on an awareness campaign to win back most of its run-away patrons.
Strippers A visit to the club last week revealed this much. Despite the seeming
changes that have taken place at the club in terms of identity and structure,
the fact remains that business has not kicked off properly at the club, more
than a year after it was reopened.
The club, situated along Ogundana Street, just off the highbrow
Allen Avenue, in Ikeja, consists of a single hall and bars which were clustered
nearly every day in the past by dozens of guests. Its present predicament stems
from the fact that many of the patrons of the night club are skeptical, in
respect of the possible raiding of the place again by the special Lagos State
Task Force on environment. It was observed while at the night club that
skimpily dressed go-go dancers, whose regular performances are the major
attraction of the night club, were entertaining a lean audience, as against
what it used to be in the recent past, when prominent Nigerians thronged the
popular club to feed their eyes on the tender bodies of these young dancers.
Before the closure, the daily shows usually would start
around 8 p m and would get to its crescendo around 11 p.m when the hall would
be filled to the brim. The belly dancers covered their bodies with only panties
and would gradually undress as they danced around a pole. But this is no longer
obtainable as the club is presently witnessing a dull moment. Mr Tony Ojo,
owner of the club, has every reason to blame the recent challenges facing the
club on the unmitigated closure.
The club, according to Ojo, was recently duped over N28
million following a property it purchased within the neighbourood and which
later, turned out to be a property in dispute. “It is not an easy task to
convince our customers to come back. We need to create a lot of awareness and
to convince them that all is well. That’s why it has become necessary that we
engage the services of the media to reach out to our numerous customers. For
now, business has been very slow,” Ojo narrated.
Lamenting that since the club was reopened early last year,
business has been very slow, the Edo State born club owner said, “we have been
trying as much as possible to enure that we win back our customers. We are
still struggling to get back to our feet.” Another set of strippers Ojo said he
has taken the initiative to show their customers a letter of authority issued
to the club owners by the Lagos State House of Assembly, where they have
promised never to clampdown on the clubs.
Also, the management of these clubs are doing everything
possible to make their customers feel at home each time they come to the night
clubs. Narrating some of the ordeals they went through while the closure
lasted, Ojo said that most of the nude dancers were terribly affected by the
closure because “they have no other means of livelihood. “When the club was
shut down, most of the nude girls felt it terrible because this is what they do
for a living. Some of them were students who raise money through this means to
pay their school fees and take care of their own needs. We also have single
mothers who feed their families based on what they make from here and the
less-privileged girls. It was really bad for them during that period,” he
further narrated.
However, contrary to the belief that these girls are
inducted into the unholy practice, Ojo hinted that some of them come to the
club to signal their interest to be part of the dancers. “When you are coming
here for the first time, we have to first and foremost confirm that you are of
age.We don’t allow under-aged girls to be part of the dancers. It’s a voluntary
thing, nobody compels anybody to be a dancer here. Besides, they apply to us
that they want to be part of the dancers. We have their personal information.”
Describing the strippers as “professional dancers”, he added that they come
from far and near places to carry out their trade at the club on daily basis.
Also, explaining why he decided to set up the club, the Edo
State born club owner said it was as a result of the need to prevent
well-placed Nigerians from travelling abroad to patronise strip clubs over
there. Refusing to see anything wrong with the club, he said “strip clubs are
everywhere around the world. Well-to-do Nigerians travel out of this country to
patronise strip clubs. They feel the only way they can reduce stress after
toiling day and night in Nigeria is by patronising strip clubs abroad. I have
seen them in other countries. “I just felt that instead of them to take our
money out of the country, it would be better for us to set up a similar club in
the country. That’s what motivated me to to set up the club. I have run the
club for five years and most of my members are well-meaning Nigerians. “Most of
our members are highly placed men and women in society. Highly placed women in
society do come to the club on a regular basis . Some of them would come here
with their husbands. There is nothing wrong with it. I have seen so many
couples who patronise the club and at the end of the day, the wife would complement
us for doing a great job here.” Saturday Vanguard gathered that apart from
being regulated, strip clubs owners at the moment are paying taxes to the Lagos
State government, meaning that they are doing a genuine business.
Meanwhile, one of the strippers who spoke to Saturday
Vanguard admitted that poverty drove her into participating in the trade.
Claiming that she is a student of Federal Polytchnic, Nekede, Owerri, the young
nude dancer said she came from a poor background, adding that the only way she
could see herself through her education was by getting involved in nude dance.
Other nude clubs that were shut down in 2009, alongside Club
Unique are also struggling to remain in business. They are Wallstreet, Magic
City and Cazzbah. Wall Street is also located on Allen Avenue while Solid Gold
formerly Ocean Blue, is located at Opebi while Cazzbah is also at Opebi . The
clubs were closed by the Lagos State Task Force for operating strip clubs in
residential areas without permit. Two managers and 33 dancers were arrested and
paraded. But the dancers were released after the state lawmakers said that
there was nothing illegal about the business.
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