Ganta, Nimba County – Ganta hardly sleeps. And many believe that the city has genuine reasons to be awake all the time.
Report by Selma Lomax, [email protected]
Their reason is that many in the city make their money late at night; defying the daunting challenges those hours often pose.
All over Ganta, men, women and even teenagers are part of the burgeoning group whose members make the night their day. Call them kings and queens of the night; that indeed is what they are – people who rule the nights the way the gods do.
What that means is that at a time many in the city are descending into deep slumber, some are left behind to carry out one form of business or another.
There are some of them who begin their businesses as early as 6pm and never close until midnight and beyond.
After a paltry four hours of sleep, they return next morning to continue from where they left off.
For some too, at a time other residents are enjoying their sleep, they are venturing out, storming sometimes into the embrace of the biting cold, determined to ride its crest, no matter how rough that might be.
They tear through the still nights inadvertently disturbing its tranquility, driven by endless search for money and, sometimes, raw fun.
This segment of Ganta population in season and out of season runs a potpourri of businesses that keeps the city bubbling with night life, thereby keeping the city awake.
Among those businesses are foods and drinks, sales of various items, transport services, night clubbing and casino undertaking, leisure, entertainment management, commercial sex activities and many more.
And many believe that a lot of those night-hour businesses contribute largely to the country’s economy.
Interestingly, some areas of Ganta are closely associated with some of those activities that keep Ganta’s nights buzzing, FrontPageAfrica has found out.
It was the discovery made after nights of observation and investigation that saw our reporter crisscrossing the city, checking out how things swing about the time most mortals have long retired to the comfort of their homes.
Transport services at night in Ganta
Transport services at night sustain some people in Ganta. Here, people just must be on the road all the time.
That is why there are commercial motorcycle operators, aka Pehn-pehn, licensed taxis and unregistered ones.
Many who patronize them at those hours are largely party freaks, commercial sex workers and other persons, who have cause to be out late at night.
Expectedly, they pay through the nose, sometimes to get to their destinations. A pehn-pehn rider, Jerry, who, until recently, was a night-time operator in Ganta, told our reporter that the best time to make cool money was at night.
“I used to sleep for long hours in the day ahead of the night outing. I would take my bike for repairs to ensure seamless operation. Then by 10pm, I was out. There were other operators like me, but we used to increase our fares, as the daytime operators retired.
When this correspondent arrived Ganta recently at 1am from a journey, he observed some of the pehn-pehn riders lying atop of their bikes, awaiting passengers coming late into city. The fare for a 15-minute ride to Millennium quarter community was LD$100.
Despite the risks perceived to be associated with night travels, a staggering number of people still travel at night. And one needs to go to various entertainment centers in the city to find out.
Ganta is home to several hundreds of night markets where buyers make their late-night purchases, mainly foodstuff and meat. Some streets are designated for such markets.
Every area has its own market. Traders in some of those markets stay until late, illuminating their wares with China-made rechargeable lamps or local lamps whose flames flicker in the night air.
The traders stay as long as there are people coming forward to patronize them.
But there is another form of night markets trading mostly in wears and accessories, various imported items among other things. They spring up at popular entertainment centers to provide the needs of an army of late-night returnees.
Their operators wait until the Lagos State law prohibiting street trading has gone to sleep. They spread their wares on the walkways to make sales.
Nightclubs and leisure spots at night in Ganta
Even amid the economic downturn, Ganta residents still find time to unwind at various leisure spots, ranging from the low to the upscale.
Big-time hotels and clubs are front-liners.
Every part of the city hosts a number of entertainment and relaxation spots where people go to feel real good, with some of them playing good music and showing live football matches.
One of them is Vicky’s Entertainment Center, situated on the main street in Ganta. Some spots show live matches, as incentives while some charge per view, with costs ranging between LD 40 to 50. Food, drinks, cigarettes and other consumables sold at such spots are usually double their market value.
At the big time hotels, business goes on all-day. There is always a stream of guests and partakers in one form of activity or another.
At all times, money is changing hands. The visitors are always in their restaurants and bars, eating, drinking and ruling the nights with some playing assorted games for money in casino.
However, the real action is at the various nightclubs where hundreds of women flock to those arenas in the same way butterflies besiege nectar.
One of those spots is Planet 44, an area that houses a variety of clubs. There, only a thin line separates the day from the night.
As late as 2:am every weekend, the area is in full flight, with heavy human and vehicular traffic.
Every inch of space is taken up, such that the visitors hardly have space to park their vehicles.
A first timer would think a carnival is on but that is wrong. The ladies, who throng the area, are commercial sex hawkers who come to hustle.
For a fee of LD$500 and above for “short time”, they are available to any interested man. Taking them home for the night, FrontPage Africa gathered, could cost as high as LD 1500, depending on the size of the man’s pocket.
“Some of these ladies are undergraduates from various tertiary institutions,” a man, Ben, told the reporter.
“Every weekend, this place is as busy as a market place. Usually, it begins to get park from 11pm till dawn. The ladies come here to take advantage of the nightclubs that are crowded; they make a lot of money every night.”
“For some, that is all they do to get by.”
In Ganta and its extension, several night clubs abound, noticeably Jackie’s. Visitors pay admission fees, beginning from LD$500. And while inside the arena, they buy the least bottle of beer for LD 225.
There are also other side attractions, which visitors pay money to be part of.
Foods and drinks
In Ganta, many are involved in selling food and drinks, a business that keeps them till late. Every thickly populated community has such joints.
There are the well patronized dumboy spots being managed by many Nimbians (people from Nimba) themselves.
At some popular spots, operators stay up to midnight as long as people are ready to take a bite at their tasty, spiced meat.
Then there are the tea sellers, some of whom continue to attend to their teeming customers, trooping out to have something hot to warm their bodies even as late as midnight.
Anywhere there is a concentration of people from the Guinean part of the city, one is sure to see them in their numbers.
They are seen standing behind their tables with their utensils and foods spread on it.
Some of them now add a variety of easy-to-prepare foods, such as noodles and eggs for people on the go.
Also in this number are women, who prepare food for night travelers.
On the Ganta broad street on this particular night, it was approaching 11pm.
A certain woman sat beside a big, locally fabricated pot, sitting atop a locally made wood stove. It was full of steaming rice that presumably would be consumed shortly before midnight.
