CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background of Study

The city of Lagos has since been declared as a megacity at the time when the population exceeded the 10million mark. Such factors that constantly contribute to the growth include natural source (birth rate in particular) and immigration form different part of the world including part of Nigeria. Through migration both skilled and unskilled are transported to Lagos in search of greener pastures. This group of people constitutes a problem to the urban area because they do not possess the necessary skills for them to be employable. The resultant effect is engaging in menial jobs which includes hawking of different kinds of wares. It should be mentioned that most of these migrants are accommodated in places of the low rent especially at the non-metropolitan part of Lagos. Ojo local government is not within the metropolis of Lagos, as such, the area accommodates some migrants’ hawkers.

Variation exists between the tendency and actual gender participation in hawking. The girl child or women are more prone to the incidence and participation in street hawking in Lagos state (Fatokun and Odagboyi, 2011).

One of the millennium development goals (MDGs) is gender equality. As Fatokun and Odagboyi (2011) noted, in most societies the roles of women is knocked to the floor, thereby preventing women from participating in, and benefitting from development efforts. They added that education is branded masculine, while domestic chores and trading are branded feminine. Gender branding have created more problems in Nigeria educational system particularly as it relates to students’ behavior and academic performance in school and which have significant influence on national development, since education is key to development.

The Girl-child in Nigeria society is so relegated to the background in many aspects of human endeavor so much so that she sees herself as a “second class” citizen, and she has come to accept and adapt to the saying that “women are supposed to be seen and not heard”. She has also come to accept the saying that “women’s education end in the kitchen” (Edith and Maureen, 2012).

This perception end-up having serious consequences on female education in Nigeria and Sub-African countries. Male child receive greater attention than female child. This perception also extend to various abuses girl-child are being engaged among secondary school students, it has been observed that more female students are engaged in street hawking, particularly during closing hours than male students in Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State. Though both sexes may engage in hawking after secondary school age, particularly when they feel they are doing so at their own will, but among those being abused by parents, it has been observed that girls are at more disadvantages than male child. In line with this thinking many female children and adolescent are denied their rights to education as they are forced into street trading, hawking and various forms of child labour (Amoo, Ola-David, Ogunrinola and Fadayomi, 2012; Togunde, 2006).

Street hawking or vending in developing countries is attracting a rising interest amongst researchers (Olutunde, 2013; Ugochukwu, Okeke, Onubogu and Edokwe 2012), due to the various health, social, and economic implications for the children who engage in such activities. Developing cities are faced with exponential growth giving rise to rural-urban drift in search of a better means of livelihood (Hoyamo and Keenan, 2007). This in addition, encroaches on the limited resources available in these cities. For instance the rapid rise in the population of Lagos State that was estimated by the 2006 census to be over 6million people but now being projected at over 17million has made observers to conclude that the Boko Haram’s insurgency in the North East, Fulani herds’ men killings, Niger-Delta militancy and other periodic violence often recorded in the country are explainable reasons for rural-urban migration into Lagos State in recent years.

In the face of this, families who cannot afford the high cost of house rent are forced to live in urban slums which further expose them to numerous health and environmental hazards, unemployment and poor education. The need to continually provide for the family in the midst of poverty has led women, men, youths and children drawn from different cultures in Nigeria to engage in street hawking activities (Ekpenyong and Nkereuwuem, 2011), particularly in Lagos State.

Street hawking irrespective of the underlying socio-cultural characteristics of the hawkers (age, education, poverty, gender, etc) is associated with many hazards. This includes sexual assault which increases the vulnerability of the hawkers to diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, increased risk of unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortion, physical assaults, mobbing, involvement in road highway accidents, kidnapping and ritual killings (Lu, 2011). Street hawking leads to increased exposure to antisocial activities like smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, cultism and crime (Amoo, et al., 2012, Ugochukwu et al., 2012). When children are involved, in addition to above listed risks, they are deprived of education, bad habits evolved and are denied of sound health and these constitute child abuse.

The concept of street hawking in a loose and general manner can be described as the activities of canvassing for sale by the hawker whether along the major highways where traffic are often recorded, along street, from house to house or in the public places in town or cities like Ojo Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State. The culture of hawking did not come from the blues; it has a historical offshoot.

The emergence of child hawking in Nigeria appears to have started with the introduction of an International Monetary Fund Structural Adjustment Plan (IMFSA) in the late 1980s, which led to the devaluation of the currency, a withdrawal of subsidies on items such as fuel, water, and electricity, and job cuts (Olori, 2009). As a result of this many parents who could no longer afford school fees for their children withdraw them from the education system. In an effort to help families make ends meet, some of these children were engaged as car washers and bus conductors, and street hawkers.

Children they say are the future of any nation, therefore there is the need to take appropriate care of children. Recently, children all over the world are receiving special focus on the improvement of their welfare by UNICEF. The federal and state governments have created ministry of women affairs to make policies that will improve the welfare of women and children. In some states, the women affairs also have a department on poverty alleviation, with special attention being given to women and children. In spite of all these efforts, most families are increasingly not showing any encouraging attitude in the area of proper up-bringing of children. Children are seen hawking in major streets, highways, markets, lanes, buses and from houses to houses in order to contribute financially to their own up-keep and that of their families. These ugly phenomenals, according to Shailong, Onuk and Beshil (2011) amount to child exploitation and abuse. Therefore this study seeks to evaluate the socio-cultural characteristics of street hawkers in Lagos State with a particular reference to Ojo Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

In Ojo Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State, children are gradually taking over mobile street trading, as they are easily seen hawking in commercial buses, and at long traffic hold-ups. Reasons observed by different scholars for the upsurge in this drift are that parental economic status cannot sustain the children in school, that the parents spend their paltry earnings on food and transport. So, the parents resort to sending their children to sell and beg without any consideration of the possible effects of such activities on their children’s education or future.

Street hawking among children in Ojo LGA is fast becoming the culture in our society. When children are kept busy on the street and they come in contact with different social ills during hawking, one begin to wonder what the outcome will be on their behavioral development as well as their academic performance in schools and later in life.

Moreover, most children start hawking at a very tender age, when they are still in their formative years. On the other hand, general standards of morality and social norms that govern acceptable patterns of behaviour will continue to decline on a daily basis in such children. When children are, by street hawking, exposed to the corrupting influences of the debased society without commensurate or even more positive influence from the family circle, they may develop patterns of speech and behaviour that may deviate considerably from socially desirable and acceptable standards. These hawkers may become trained to indulge in bad behaviours which may thwart their progress in life and do have negative consequence on such children education and as well behavioural characteristics.

Although, child hawking, can contribute to family economic leverage and sustainability in face of economic downturn, however, the risks that are attached supersede the economic gains of this act. Risks like motor accident, rape, kidnapping, extortion, sexual molestation, poor and distort academic performance and bleak future, behavioural delinquency and the child involvement in robbery and other anti-social behaviours are too great to be ignored.

Because of these negative consequences of street hawking and effect of such on child education particularly girl child education, UNICEF (2000) warned that child hawking exposes the child to a lot of hazards like sexual defilement, sexual assaults, neglects and threat of punishment for speaking out as exemplified above. The consequences of these acts usually result in an unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, sudden stoppage to schooling, behavioural decadence, psychological problems and a gradual withdrawal from a healthy relationship with the opposite gender.

It is against this backdrop that this study seeks to investigate the socio-cultural characteristics of street hawkers in Lagos State with a particular reference to Ojo Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State.

1.3       Aim and Objective of the Study

The aim of this study is to examine the socio-cultural characteristics of street hawkers in Lagos State. The specific objectives are:

        i.            Analyse the socio economic characteristics of street hawkers in Ojo Local Government Area.

     ii.            Investigate the influence of gender on street hawking in Ojo Local Government Area.

   iii.            Find out the influence of culture on street hawking in Lagos State.

   iv.            Examine the influence of street hawking on adolescents’ education.

1.4       Research Questions

The study will be guided by the following research questions:

a.      What will be the perceived impact of poverty on street hawkers in Ojo Local Government Area?

b.      What will be the influence of gender on street hawking in Ojo Local Government Area?

c.      What will be the influence of culture on street hawking in Lagos State?

d.      What is the influence of street hawking on adolescents’ education?

1.5    Research Hypotheses

The researcher intends to test the following hypotheses;

Hypothesis One:

Ho:     There is no significant impact of poverty on street hawkers in Ojo Local Government Area.

Hi:      There is a significant impact of poverty on street hawkers in Ojo Local Government Area.

Hypothesis Two:

Ho:     Gender has no significant impact on street hawking in Ojo Local Government Area.

Ho:     Gender has a significant impact on street hawking in Ojo Local Government Area.

Hypothesis Three:

Ho:     There is no significant relationship between culture and street hawking in Lagos State.

Hi:      There is a significant relationship between culture and street hawking in Lagos     State.

1.6       Justification of the Study