Shock was the reaction that greeted a now-viral video of a young boy who captured himself half-naked in a hotel in Lagos State with a girl his age.
Both kids were jumping on the bed at one point in the video, which has now been circulated widely on social media.
After the jumping, they both stood in front of the mirror in a sexually suggestive fashion and gave off romantic looks. Before the 26-second video came to an end, both teenagers locked lips and gave a wide grin on camera.
This outraged Nigerians who wondered how they got access to that level of privacy in a hotel facility in the country that is supposed to be reserved for adults. The age of adulthood in Nigeria is 18 and the kids in the video were barely teenagers.
In 2023, a similar video was circulated. This time, there were three young boys and a young girl who were almost unclad dancing to a popular Nigerian tune on camera.
They looked intoxicated, as all four of them were seen smoking from one stick of what looked like marijuana or cigarette. One of the boys held a red cup and sipped the content slowly, giving wild laughter after every sip.
The girl was seen beckoning on another person who was not visible in the video to come and help her, as, according to her, the boys were ‘killing her’.
“These boys are so bad. They want to kill me o,” she said and fell on the bed, laughing as she did.
The incident, our correspondent gathered, happened in a local hotel in Sagamu, Ogun State.
Residents of the area who spoke to our correspondent confirmed that it was a regular sight to see young people use the hotel for their parties.
A chief in the area, Mr Tunji Adekola, said he was the one who reported the hotel to the police in the area for playing loud music and disturbing the peace in the area, not knowing that something sinister went on behind the shadows.
He said, “It was after my report, that several people came forward to say some men in the area took some underage girls to the hotel where they perform their illicit acts. Girls not up to 16 are always seen in the area, skimpily dressed.”
Another resident, Mrs Chinasa Ochiko, said the place is nicknamed ‘Ibongi Bar’ because there were no restrictions to the illicit acts that go on there.
“Children of 15 years old and even below are seen in the area even at night. Although the place has been shut down by the authorities, other hotels in the area still allow young girls to lodge there with men old enough to be their fathers,” she said.
‘What did I do wrong?’
Another young girl, in 2024, was recorded in another viral video on TikTok in Eleme, Rivers State, coming out of a hotel room in a popular hotel in the area half-dressed. The hotel said to be owned by a politician, runs a nightclub, a strip bar and what they termed “ladies’ night”.
In the video, the young girl was asking, “What did I do wrong?” from the persons who questioned her for lodging in a hotel without her parents.
A voice from the background asked, “What are you doing here? Where are your parents? Don’t you have a home? See as you dey! A young girl like you! Spoiling yourself and your family name. If you don’t leave here now, we will call the police to take you and whoever you came here with.”
Another person in the background enquired about her room number and threatened to go drag the man she came with before the video came to an abrupt end.
Sources in the area said she went to the hotel to celebrate her 16th birthday the previous day and she lodged there with her boyfriend for the night to ‘seal the celebration’.
A resident in the area who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity said parts of the hotel were uncompleted and lodgers may be required to come down and fetch water.
“It was when the girl came down to fetch water that she was captured. Some men who were there to drink accosted her and asked her how old she was and what she was doing in the hotel. They then realised she came there to celebrate her 16th birthday with her boyfriend who is 26 years old.
“Both of them were chased out of the hotel and the receptionist that booked them was sanctioned,” the source said.
Although the hotel owner denied the video was made in his hotel, several lodgers on social media confirmed that the hotel was notorious for its anyhowness.
“You will find children walking around the pool in pairs. I am talking of children who should be in secondary school. Some of them will wear swim trunks and their partners will accompany them. Whenever I see them there and I am with my partner, I go there and chase them out myself,” a lady on Facebook, Tumbari Leebam, wrote in a comment section.
Another Facebook user said the hotel was notorious in the area as a regular spot to get ‘fresh meat’ (underage girls).
“It is irritating but true that these fresh meat lurk around the hotel (name withheld) to look for men who pick them, use the rooms there for as many days as they like and the management turns a blind eye,” wrote Tuonimi Barida.
Another day, another video
A few months after the Rivers State incident, another video surfaced on social media. It was that of a young boy and a girl in a hotel room.
It stirred outrage on social media, causing many to bash hotel owners who allow these young people to use their facilities for these illicit acts.
The clip showed the minors alone in a hotel room, drinking and making romance.
The girl, who wore a crop top on blank pants, was filming herself in front of a mirror while her male partner showed off his meal.
As she got close to him, he swiftly dropped his food, got close to her and appeared to kiss her on the lips.
The 17-second clip was shared on Twitter by @_favorite_ada, who wondered where the parents of the kids were.
The video has caused a huge stir on the Internet, with many condemning the underage children for lodging in a hotel together.
Some others criticised the hotel management for allowing them to stay in their facility, while others blamed their parents for failing to instil good values in them.
An X user, Lola Okunrin, expressed disgust over the hotel clip and emphasised the importance of community parenting.
He said, “This is why I will forever love community parenting. Let’s say the parents of these two failed, what about the staff of the hotel? The moment they entered and asked for a key, an adult is holding their ears and twisting it while giving them brain resetting knock. A ti miss (sic).”
Another user, tweeting as @mr_time_smile, wrote, “There should be a law that says we must show our National ID before we can access some places in Nigeria. There must be verification of age in hotel facilities.”
@blessmich85, another user, wrote, “Community parenting helped reset my brain the day I followed gang enter canoe to another community because of inter-house sports. Before I got home, my ear and face collected slaps (sic).
“I can never forget the Part II beating my mother gave me. (sic)”
Man stops 15-year-old boy from lodging with teenage girls
Another video which trending in 2023 showed a man confronting a 15-year-old boy who attempted to book a hotel room with two teenage girls.
The man was seen in the video grilling the child who refused to speak up.
When the girls who had come with the boy saw that their objective had been disrupted, they walked away fast, ignoring requests from the man who demanded to know what they were planning to do in the hotel room.
The menace
The increasing trend of minors lodging in hotels unsupervised and engaging in illicit activities is becoming a significant concern in Nigeria.
Despite stringent legal frameworks and industry codes of conduct, some hoteliers neglect their responsibilities, facilitating an environment where minors can easily access rooms and partake in activities that jeopardize their safety and well-being. This issue not only threatens the minors involved but also tarnishes the reputation of Nigeria’s hospitality industry.
The Federal Government also warned hoteliers across the country not to harbour teenagers and underage girls in their facilities or risk being sanctioned.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, read the riot acts on Saturday at the ‘Unlock Training and Grants’ ceremony in Abuja.
The programme, which saw 200 young entrepreneurs receive N100m, was organised by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education, Abiola Arogundade.
In January 2023, some students of Federal Government College in Ijanikin, Lagos, were caught absconding from school to lodge female classmates in hotels for sexual romp.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the students, all boarders, were said to have on different occasions scaled the school’s fence with their female counterparts and stayed out of school for days.
Findings revealed that the students involved in the act were between the ages of 14 and 17.
Similarly, in April 2022, a video clip of a 15-year-old boy who was accosted while trying to lodge two girls and another guy in a hotel room went viral on social media.
The teenage schoolgirls, however, took to their heels when the voice behind the camera attempted to probe them on their mission.
But Kennedy-Ohanenye vowed that it would no longer be business as usual.
To further depict the seriousness of the Federal Government, the minister disclosed that hoteliers, especially in the Federal Capital Territory, have been directed to mount a signpost outside their hotels warning prospective clients to lodge any underage girls in their premises.
She said, “Nigeria must be better. From 20th (June), we have directed hotels to put a sign outside from the Ministry of Women. No lodging of underage girls. (Otherwise) what happened in Niger State will be an understatement of what will happen in the FCT and I mean it.
“No more lodging of underage girls and no more bullying in schools.”
Continuing, the minister announced to journalists that the FG has commenced a probe into the distasteful viral clip of 10 Nigerian teenagers who were rescued from neighbòuring Ghana where they were trafficked for prostitution.
