Kayanmata: A growing trend among Nigerian women

This reporter was directed to a shop at Wuse Market in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory for “kayanmata”. The product is on many a woman’s lips but the reporter only recently became aware of it. The literal meaning of the word in Hausa is “women’s things” but to the women who use it, kayanmata means much more.

“I want Kayanmata,” I whispered to the shop owner.

“Which one? For vagina tightening or sweetening?” he responded. “I have the traditional and English products? I have the one you will mix with honey. This one will give you power and you no go tire. You go swallow this one to make your body sweet you well well. These ones na N2500 each,” he said as he brought out an array of items.

“Oga, what about the one wey go make man dey give me money?” I asked, smiling.

He responded: “Gaskiya, any person wey dey sell this kain thing no get that one, na liar.”

It was about seven months ago that the reporter first heard about Kayanmata. It was during an interesting gist with a close friend. Even after that, the reporter could not understand why a man under the spell of kayanmata could be made to spend almost everything he has on a woman just to keep sleeping with her.

Seeing, as they say, is believing. That was exactly the case when the reporter went in search of Kayanmata products.

The friend had said everything possible to convince the reporter about how effective the products are.

She said there were different products like vagina upgrade to tighten the vagina and favour oil to attract wealthy men.

Women, especially young ladies, using Kayanmata to attract expensive gifts, favours and attention from wealthy men, whether single or married, is no longer news.

“Kayanmata” originated from the Northern part of Nigeria. It refers to herbs or potions that act as sex or love enhancers for couples. The products have been trending on social media as the merchants openly advertise them and also post their clients’ testimonies on the efficacy.

The business is thriving on social media and drawing more people.

“You just dey hear about the thing?”, Amaka, a lady in her 20s asked incredulously in Pidgin English. “Me I don dey use am collect money from men for over two years.”

She continued: “See my dear, using Kayanmata has changed my life, that’s a little secret. Before now, I hardly had money to feed talk less of to send to my mother and siblings. But now, everything is overflowing,” she said, smiling coyly.

Amaka is well endowed. With an average height, her smooth and spotless skin will ordinarily attract many people’s attention at first sight. But despite her beauty, she said she relies on Kayanmata to get men’s attention and also get them to fully commit to her.

In her late 20s, Amaka is a proud owner of a car, lives in a 3-bedroom flat apartment in the centre of Abuja and owns a big fashion designing shop. She said her life changed after she learned that ladies use kayanmanta to acquire all they want from men, married or single.

“Someone introduced me to it. I was scared at first but after I saw the result of the first product I bought for N50,000, I became addicted to using it.

“It gives me rich partners. All I have to do is use the perfume, drink some tea and use other products as instructed. And anything I ask from my partner is mine. The products are too expensive to be a joke,” she said.

Just as Amaka, Hassana confirmed the efficacy of kayanmata. The mother of four believs only a few marriage can survive without the use of kayanmata. She said her friends who do not use the products were abandoned by their husbands a few years after their marriage.

“To me, Kayanmata is a normal thing people use every day. I don’t know if my marriage would still be intact if I don’t use Kayanmata. Two of my friends have left their matrimonial homes because of one trouble or another but my marriage is still intact.

“I advised them to use some of the products but they said it is fetish and against the will of Allah. But my sister, it is not. It is a way of protecting what is yours. I am the apple of my husband’s eye and no woman can take my place. Never,” she said.

Grace is in her early 30s. According to her, she started using kayanmata about two months ago.

“I had earlier heard about Kayanmata from my friends but I didn’t have the intention of using it because I was scared. Two months ago, I had some financial issues that really made me feel useless. My friend told me to use some out of her own products. It worked very well for me; I got monetary gifts and so much attention from different men. After that, I went to buy my own complete package and I am happy I did,” she said.

Raphael, a father of three in his early 50s, is a regular visitor to the apartment of a beautiful lady residing in Kado district, about 15-minute drive from the centre of Abuja.

He regularly visits the lady identified as Jennifer and is so attached to her that he has taken her on various trips, including to Dubai and other countries.

Jenny, as she is popularly called, claimed he rented the apartment for her, furnished it, got her visas to some countries. She said Raphael is the centre of her world.

“His family resides in the US and he visits them once in a while. But when he is in Nigeria, I have all his attention. We met during my youth service in Abuja and he got me this apartment immediately after my youth service about a year ago.

“I use Kayanmata but it’s just for my own purpose. The person I buy it from gives me body sweetener that makes any man who sleeps with me want to do more. The man will always think about me and buy me expensive gifts because he enjoys the sex and wants more.

“I heard there are some that can make a man leave his wife and marry you but I don’t buy that one. I just want to survive in this Abuja, I don’t want to destroy another woman’s home,” she said.

PREMIUM TIMES’ reporter visited a Kayanmata vendor in Bwari, a town in the suburb of Abuja. She said the products bring fresh sparks between partners.

Hauwa (not her real name) said, “Kayanmata is not juju as most people think, it’s just a mixture of herbs to make sex very interesting between partners.

“There are others that also force men to give their partners whatever she desires. It doesn’t kill the partner or make him dull, it will only make him perform his responsibilities as expected,” she said.

The reporter also spoke to one of the vendors on Instagram with the handle ‘kayanmataspecial’. She said she was motivated to take the products online after she used it to restore a broken relationship.

“My motivation started from when my kayanmata was able to restore a relationship that was about to hit the rock. I was happy kayanmata made the relationship bounce back. After this, I was motivated to go into it full time to put smile on the faces of those beautiful women out there who have lost hope or are about to. I don’t like when a woman being treated badly or cheated,” she said.

Controverting the claim that it is fetish, she said “kayanmata is not fetish, ‘jazz’ or juju as some people think. It’s an ancient knowledge lost in this era of internet and we are trying to bring it back. Most of the ingredients are herbs and roots put together in the right places and right dosage.”

On some of the ingredients she uses, Hauwa said, “I use dabino (dates), natural honey, some plants, goro (kolanut) and others.

“Some women lose the urge for sex after childbirth, the product can help you restore your libido naturally without your having to swallow pills and all.”

MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS SPEAK

Expectedly, medical practitioners and health experts are contemptuous of kayanmata.

Segun Olaopa said he was not interested in it. “I am not aware of the product or its approval for use. I am not also sure if it has gone through clinical trials.”

Abdulrazaq Garba, a medical doctor, said “Until there is scientific evidence to back the products up, I cannot say whether they have any effect on sex or if they are safe for public use.”