IT IS 9 O’ CLOCK: DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR DAUGHTER IS?

It is 9 O’ clock, do you know where your daughter is?

The original phrase “It is 9 O’ clock, do you know where your children are?” was made popular by Frank Olize, the then host of NTA’s weekly magazine programme-Newsline.

Then, I wondered why he always asked that question.  Well, that was then. Now I know why. 

Have you every had a drive on Ring Road in Ibadan around 9pm any evening?

For those that dont know Ring Road is the long stretch from Challenge all the way to one ten and it is one place I can vow some parents do not know where their daughters are at 9 pm.

Welcome to Ring Road, a street made popular by Joints, clubs and bars. It is a very long and busy street. From the beginning of the street to the end of the street, you would see men and women who run all kinds of businesses to keep body and soul together.

To have a fair idea of the population of people on ring road, you have to take the drive between 8 and midnight.

Frank Olize’s question reverberated in my head as I drove home one of those nights. I decided to acquaint myself with the. As I drove by the length of the street, lo and behold, I saw young girls cornered at different parts of the street. It was already past ten in the night and these girls were still on the streets playing with boys/men.

After spending some day on my investigation, a particular girl caught my eyes. On my way from work, I would see her cornered by a particular guy. It was an everyday affair. The pair would stand by the corner of the street with the boy always holding her at some unholy places.  The mother of this girl sells food not too far from their meeting point.

Few months down the line, I saw this little girl with a protruded belly, she moved about with the pregnancy unashamedly.  She eventually gave birth to a boy.

Every night in most streets, one sees  see little girls playing with boys on the streets when they are supposed to be inside their parents’ houses.  The question that comes to mind whenever I see them is the question Frank asked in those days; “it is 9 pm, do you know where your children are?”