Clad soberly in a checked knee-length hat, Tobore Ovuorie hardly seems to have walked the streets of Lagos in a provocative outfit and high heels.
A freelance reporter with a burning desire to expose the facts about a sordid backstreet company, Ovuorie dressed as a streetwalker to infiltrate the prostitution ring.
She embarked on a risky mission after a friend left for Europe, became a sex slave and disappeared, leaving Ovuorie in shock and beset with questions.
Today, Ovuorie’s amazing story has been converted into a Netflix movie success, “Oloture,” which shed a brilliant light on one of Nigeria’s darkest trades.
“I needed to do justice, to know the truth. I wanted to know the process, the back story about these ladies,” the 39-year-old reporter told AFP.
Clad soberly in a lined knee-length hat, Tobore Ovuorie hardly seems to have walked the streets of Lagos ever in a provocative outfit and high heels.
A freelance reporter with a burning urge to expose the facts about the sordid backstreet company, Ovuorie dressed as a streetwalker to penetrate the prostitution ring.
After a friend left for Europe, she took on a risky mission, became a sex slave and died, leaving Ovuorie stunned and beset with questions.
Today, Ovuorie’s amazing story has been converted into a Netflix movie success, “Oloture,” which sheds light on one of Nigeria’s darkest trades.
“Sometimes investigative journalists in search of the story become the story,” director Kenneth Gyang told AFP.
But in this case, the reporter was also “the torch that led us into the lives” of victims, he said.
– Disillusion –
Sex trafficking is prevalent in Nigeria, especially in southern Benin City, which is the recruitment ground for criminal gangs that smuggle women to Europe.
How many women are trafficked is unclear, but in Italy, the authorities estimate that between 10,000 and 30,000 Nigerians are prostitutes.
Several thousand more are trapped in Libya or other African nations, often abused by traffickers who make them think that they will one day enter Europe.
In the film, a journalist named Oloture, who played Ovuorie’s part during her investigation, heads to the neighbourhood of Benin with a dozen other children.
From there, their “madam” promises will leave for Europe in exchange for money (up to $85,000, €70,000) that they will have to repay once they arrive in Italy.
Quite soon, the trip becomes a bit bad.
Instead of going to the border, their minibus stops in a sleepy training camp in the suburbs of Lagos.
There, the girls are roughed up and divided into two groups: “street” prostitutes and “special” prostitutes reserved for wealthier clients.
The most striking character on the screen is Linda, a young uneducated woman of poor rural heritage, who becomes a friend of Oloture’s.
Linda “represents many of those young ladies and how they get in disillusion” said Ovuorie, who had come across such a character in her investigation.
It’s exciting for the director that the film is a hit in Nigeria.
“We have to see how to make this film available in remote places for young vulnerable women who might be susceptible to be trafficked to Europe,” said Gyang.
– Emotional toll –
On social media, the movie — and its ending — have triggered passionate debate.
“For most of these ladies there is never any light at the end of the tunnel,” said Gyang, “so why would you try to make a film that would end on a happy note?”
Ovuorie said that what she witnessed and encountered during her research still haunts her—waiting she’s to locate the woman with whom she was supposed to go to Europe to share their stories.
Her work has inflicted a heavy emotional cost, she said.
“I’m a shadow of myself, I try to smile, to look bright, but most of the time it’s been just me fighting to hold onto life”.
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