"We've Sold Our Soul to Devil” II: Drugs, Depiction of Teen Sexuality..Nigeria’s Dark Adult Industry
Warning: This is an adult-related story. Reader discretion is advised.
Ikeja, Lagos state - The pornography industry is a drug-infested one that often results in fatal outcomes for male and female adult workers.
In some cases, pornographic performers resort to unprescribed drugs to tend to their mental health problems.
Source: UGC
In January 2024, world-famous pornstar Jesse Jane died of an accidental fentanyl and cocaine overdose. At least six other pornstars in the western part of the world have died of drug-related issues.
Coming home, I discovered a lot of x-rated videos, apparently shot on Nigerian soil, showing adult film performers taking ganja. This comes despite the substance’s illegality and the ongoing crackdown by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on cannabis users and traffickers.
Source: UGC
The effects of marijuana smoking can vary, with some studies showing potential for negative impacts on male sexual function.
According to a former porn cinematographer interviewed for this investigation, almost every pornstar is an alcoholic and drug abuser, and nearly all scenes are shot under the influence of drugs, which is why they sometimes can engage in gross, brutal and ‘unnatural’ sex acts. “Most often than not, they are subjected to very harsh and cruel sexual activities they never originally wanted to engage in,” the source, who prefers not to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic, shares.
There is also the overuse and abuse of erectile dysfunction (ED) medicines like Viagra and Cialis, to prove a sexual point.
"Some of these performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and gins can put pressure on the heart," Dr Ewunuga Sheriffdeen, a licensed Lagos-based medical practitioner, tells me. "Also, the illicit use of sex-enhancing drugs, particularly anabolic-androgenic steroids (AASs) and potentially unprescribed or counterfeit products, can cause significant kidney and liver issues. These are the troubles."
When I asked Femi Babafemi, the spokesperson of the NDLEA, why the organisation seem to pay no attention to porn performers’ illegal substance use, he responded:
“In line with best global practices, we don’t prosecute drug users. We counsel them and offer them rehabilitation in addition to raising awareness about the dangers of substance abuse. However, we prosecute drug dealers, sellers and distributors while we seize illicit drugs from them. That’s the balance we provide in our drug demand reduction and drug supply reduction efforts."
I reminded the NDLEA official that his colleagues, in February 2022, famously arrested singers Zinoleesky, MohBad (now late), and four others at their home in Lekki, Lagos, for possession of illegal substances that included cannabis and ‘Molly’; he did not give a reply. Selective prosecution?
Depictions of teen sexuality
There is a huge market for ‘the young girl’ fantasy, as ‘teen porn’ yields more internet search results than any other category of porn.
Amid backpacks and schoolgirl dresses, grown men act out sexual fantasies with performers who are at least 18 in real life, but who are made to look and act like children.
In the Nigerian circle, Faith Melisa, a svelte and innocent-looking lady, is often cast by pornography producers as an emerging teen. Melisa’s channel has a total video view of close to 1 billion.
Source: UGC
Dr Shuaibu, the children's welfare expert, laments that the trend of pornographic content portraying certain adults as minors or teenagers is “deeply disturbing”. She points out that it has a significant threat to children’s well-being and safety, adding that the phenomenon promotes sexualisation of real-life minors and sexual fantasies about adolescents, which could translate to their sexual abuse and rape.
“Sexualisation of minors calls for the need for the Cyber Crimes Act to be updated to include punishment for pseudo-child pornography as done in other countries,” Shuaibu recommends.
Public sex acts and their environmental hazards
Apart from producers casting aside ethical boundaries to create content which promotes the fantasy of sex with children, another contentious genre is outdoor porn.
In 2020, King Tblak HOC embarked on an infamous adventure when he recorded a pornographic movie at the Osun Osogbo sacred grove.
Osun Osogbo is on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo, the Osun state capital. The sacred forest, home to Osun, the Yoruba goddess of fertility, is a United Nations (UN-designated) World Heritage Site.
Snippets of the video were posted on the pornographer’s XVideos channel at the time.
According to police, the popular porn movie producer was arrested for the controversial filming. He was arraigned in court and subsequently freed.
In his prime, King Tblak HOC also released audacious x-rated clips, shot at the premises of a government-owned secondary school in Osun state.
Source: UGC
In 2023, tapes appeared on XVideos showing Wild Lagos Productions’ actors having sexual intercourse at the famous 401-metre-long canopy walkway of the Lekki Conservation Centre (LCC). The walkway, operated by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), is widely recognised as the longest in Africa.
When I reached out to the management of the LCC to ask if the iconic conservation centre has now endorsed Lagosians shooting porn on its site, it denied permitting ‘any indecent or obscene activity within its premises.’
“We are not aware of any such occurrence as stated, and we would caution that any claims or reports should be based on verified facts. Kindly note that the management will review this information appropriately,” LCC said.
I then pointed out the said videos to LCC, which it acknowledged.
While Nigerian law does not explicitly define ‘public sex’, it prohibits acts that are considered indecent, disorderly, or corrupting. Hence, engaging in sexual intercourse in a public place can be prosecuted under laws related to public nuisance, indecent exposure, or acts that are likely to cause corruption or are offensive to public decency.
Pimping in Nigeria’s pornography industry
Between November 2023 and October 2025, I monitored ‘Owen Henry’, a Nigerian youth who built a reputation as a model on XVideos. I furtively check his WhatsApp statuses, studying his ‘hustle’.
This actor shares random pornographic clips and routinely makes calls for applications for porn casting. ‘Henry’ mentions the per-shoot pay and reels out the requirements, which include a valid identity document.
Source: Original
Likewise, via Hookup TV, ‘Henry’ controls call girls and arranges clients for them.
‘Annie Blondie’, who worked with King Tblak HOC, was also spotted expressing her availability for ‘hookup’ rendezvous. Annie has over 42,000 followers on X.
Although I have verified how much porn performers in Nigeria get paid, at the risk of enticing young, vulnerable persons, I am withholding the details.
The ‘hookup’ disposition among some young Africans encourages and accepts casual sexual encounters, such as one-night stands, without necessarily involving emotional bonding or long-term commitment.
‘Hook-ups’ or prostitution in Nigeria is not encouraged. In the southern zone, activities like operating or owning brothels are illegal under the Criminal Code, and a law criminalises "carnal knowledge" for commercial sex. Holding a female in a brothel for sex work carries a prison penalty of two years. In northern states, there is Sharia law, which strongly opposes prostitution.
In March, moves to make sex work legal were rebuffed as the federal high court, Abuja, dismissed a suit seeking to legalise prostitution.
The plaintiff, Lawyers Alert Initiative for Protecting the Rights of Children, Women and the Indigent (LAIPRCWI), had instituted the suit on behalf of the commercial sex workers. However, the judge, James Omotosho, ruled against them.
Abdulrasheed, the Abuja-based lawyer, clarifies that even though both the criminal and penal codes did not specify “hook-up”, it is regarded as prostitution in Nigeria, “and as such, since prostitution is illegal, hook-up is illegal too.”
Suicides, concealed cases of deadly STIs
Other misadventures of the performers are cases of STIs and suicide.
In Nigeria, before they can film, actors and actresses undergo blood screening. Some production budget between N500,000 ($523) to N800,000 ($554), depending on the number of cast. Still, this does not stop the spread of life-threatening sex-linked diseases.
In regulated markets, performers must test every 14 days. This includes high-sensitivity HIV testing using fourth-generation antigen/antibody test methods and full panels for other STIs. But an informed source tells me these medical protocols are not rigorously followed in Nigeria. It may explain why an HIV infection occurred on a porn set not long ago, even though the news was kept from the public.
“Many people don kill themselves for this Nigerian porn industry. But nobody knows, nobody carries it, no news, no blog. HIV ehn, some people did shoot wey everybody had HIV, but no blog hear am,” Uglygalz reveals, communicating in pidgin. “You know say we get small community, for Instagram, for Facebook, for TikTok, for everywhere. That small community just spread am, and e just spread small small, until e die down.”
This is the last of a two-part series. You can read the first part of the story here.
Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
