Aristo or ‘Runs’ busi-
ness means hustling for money from men in exchange for sex. This practice is common among young girls in higher institutions of learning and other classes of beautiful ladies of easy virtue. The common places this inglorious trade thrives are the campuses, hotels, strip clubs and other entertainment hangouts.
In a recent interview with The Tide Entertainment, one of the ‘Aristo’ babies who spoke under anonymity, said it is no longer good business as it used to be since the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus which they said is now in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
She lamented that because of the fear of contacting the killer virus, their customers who are mostly big boys and sugar daddies now avoid them like plagues. She said even though the virus is not known to be transmitted through sex, they are still weary of the situation.
According to her, most of them who engage in the sex trade are students in higher institutions of learning and they do not engage in the ‘Runs’ business for fun, but to raise money for their handouts, school fees and levies as well as to take care of their basic necessities, because most of their parents are poor, even their so called boyfriends cannot provide everything for them, so they use what they have to get what they need. She further disclosed that, the other girls that are involved in the business do it to get money to take care of their basic needs as girls, since they cannot secure a decent job.
Our investigations revealed that in the campuses where the ‘Runs’ business thrives most, they have pimps whose modus operandi is to arrange the girls for the prospective customers on commission basis, most times they arrange the girls for big parties in town on a higher commission. They also engage in in-house delivery of the girls to money bags who would not like to be seen in public with the Aristos, and they pay heavily for the services of the pimps.
Apart from the campuses, the Aristos business also thrives in choice areas of the Garden City such as the highbrow GRA axis where you have a good number of prestigious hotels, exotic strip clubs and world class entertainment hangouts, popular among which is the Casablanca. Others include the Boomarang nite club Rumuogba, Fabulous nite club and Buguma lodge around the Mile I Diobu axis.
There are also the notorious Azikiwe Street which activities could be likened to “Sodom and Gomorrah” around the Mile 2 Diobu, Port Harcourt, Orka beak night club close to the Mopol 19 Barracks, Mr. D Plaza D/Line, Hotel Presidential/Rumuola Junction where ‘cash and carry’ business thrives, Royal Afrique nite club, Rumuokwurusi as well as other hot spots in Aggrey Road, Victoria Street and the Borokiri axis of the old Port Harcourt Township, including Rukpokwu town and its environs among others.
Fun lovers storm these entertainment – enclaves mostly on Wednesdays, Fridays through Sundays to relax, dance, wine and dine as well as patronise these beautiful young girls who hang around looking for who will hire their services either for the whole night, short time or just for a quickie, each of these services has a price tag.
It was gathered that the tempo of the sex trade has reduced drastically as the Aristos and the operators of these entertainment haven have become weary of the situation while most of the fun lovers have withdrawn into their shells like a threatened Tortoise.
It was, however, gathered that some big operators in the industry who have recorded monumental losses since the advent of the Ebola virus saga have deviced means of keeping their clients. Apart from the improvement on their security network to protect lives and properties of their clients from hoodlums, they have installed the Rycom RC008 Non contact infrared thermometer in their business premises.
This technology allows Temporary Artery (TA) Temperature to be taken at a distance of about 3-5cm away from the forward to measure the temperature of a person by the energy he or she emits.
This to an extent informs you about the primary status of the person’s well being before gaining entrance into the crowded and highly patronised clubs, hotels and hangouts. This technology is now in vogue in most of these entertainment centres across the country including Port Harcourt, the heart beat of show business East, of the Niger.

Funke Akindele