Last Stop, Benin

On the last leg of my trip I left Warri with Linda and headed to Benin. Benin is the capital city of Edo State which in between the southwest and southeastern states of Nigeria. It is said to be a significant cultural centre of the country, but unfortunately I didn’t have very long in Benin as I had to get back to Ife the next day for my farewells and to collect my luggage. So basically it was just one night I had there.

Linda and I met up with two other AIESECers and we headed out on the town preparing for a big night out. First we went to an outdoor live music place for a few drinks. Then we tried as hard as we could for the next 3 hours or so to hit the Benin clubbing scene with little success.

I'm generally not the clubbing type but thought it my duty to try it out and see what its like. Unfortunately the main market for clubs, the students, were not around in great numbers and were generally empty. We tried several which were all empty and most said they didn't really start till much later anyway (past our bedtime). So we spent the majority of the time sitting outside of places or driving to the next one.

Most amusing to me was description provided to me concerning the girls at the nightclubs. Despite the low turnouts, I was amazed by the number of seemingly plentiful scantily clad girls and no guys. I was informed though, they most of these girls were "on the runs". Apparently they will accompany any guy into the nightclub and later home, but on the clock and for the right price. It started to all make sense as my new friend told me how he couldn't spot one girl who wasn't belonging to this group.

Later a chief turned up. I know he was a chief because it was written on his numberplates. Not very inconspicuous. Actually first his machine-gun wielding bodyguards turned up in a brand new black 4WD to inspect the scene. Apparently the usual practice is done to acquire the chief a couple of girls for the night.

And thus our night ended early, but with some amusement courtesy of the local nightclub girls.