There is a popular saying in religious circles to the effect that love of money is the root of all evils. While this may appear like an exaggeration, it closely contains a gem of truth especially in a country like Nigeria where men and women have almost completely lost the true value of money.
The number of teenagers engaged in street hawking has been on the increase at an alarming rate in the society. It is also pertinent to note that observation and experience have shown that the average affluent individuals look forward to see these hawkers to buy things they want to buy or need either internationally or as a result of lack of alternative sellers. It is in the light of this therefore, that the writer intends to know much more about the hawkers and why members of the general public prefer to buy their immediate needs from street hawkers despite the various government effort to eradicate the practice. Although the parents and guardians of the hawkers seem to turn blind eyes and deaf ears to both its social and economic implications.
Street hawking is the offer of goods for sales by going from house to house, street to street by the individuals who engage in this type of trade.
The Causes of Street Hawking
In many societies, most of hawkers remain the female gender, as justified by the reports of Maggle Jones published in National Concord of April 3, 1987 titled ‘neglect of female children’. Maggie Jones who wrote her report to World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF) showed that throughout the world, majority of cultures prefers sons and that girls and women’s health often suffers as a result.
This report indicates that Girls are victim of such because the fathers or husbands leave the care and upbringing of their daughters in the hands of their wives who later exposed them to street hawking which usually subject them to all forms of moral dangers, under the pretext that by so doing, they can satisfy their urge for materialism.
Participants in an international workshop on Child Abuse and Neglect held in Lagos from 15th to 19th October, were unanimous that hawking had deprived children of the chance of being at school when they ought to and also deny the parents and community the chances of offering support.
The manners of approach to men exhibited by the female hawkers dictates the category of hawkers patronage they receive mostly from ‘sugar daddies’ and paedophiles who pay them thrice or more the price of the actual cost of whatever goods they pretend to be selling, just to hoodwink them for sexual gratification.
In addition, these sugar-daddies and affluent individuals buy them a lot of valuable materials or sometimes pretend to offer fake marriage promises just to have a carnal knowledge of them.
The most unfortunate story about this class of hawkers is that they would still not go away from these sugar daddies and or their financial inducers even though they have been bitterly disappointed, because of the material gains they receive.
Investigation has show that this class of hawkers are never good cooks, because they spend all of their days going from one street to another all in the name of hawking.
The hawkers in this class category have also been recognized to be prominent in becoming divorcees since they have been used to loosed life and world of luxury which they are likely not to get in their various matrimonial homes.
Another factor as one of the causes of hawking is the issue of socialization. Individual hawkers that fell into this group or class account for about 40 percent of the hawking population. The individual in this category are prompted by the wish to go.
Recommendations
Now that the two hypotheses have been tested during the period of survey and the positive hypothesis carried the day, the writer is confident that what the research result has shown is exactly the true picture of the whole story.
Moreover, I belief that if these recommendations are strictly applied, the socio-economic consequences of hawking would turn to a thing of the past. Below are few recommendations that could help:
(a) To effectively eradicate street hawking among girls, social welfare offices and departments should be established by the government and the private sector in order to address the social anomie that is evident.
(b) Parents must give more emphasis on moral rectitude and discipline of their children.
(c) Social workers should be given wider powers to enable them arrest and prosecute any hawker found on the street trading.
(d) The state governments should urgently provide the social workers with motorcycles so that they will enjoy carrying out their noble duties
(e) States governments also need to provide mobility to social welfare offices, so that the officials can effectively monitor the activities of the hawkers and other clients.
Shuaibu Lawal writes from Kano, and can be reached via [email protected] or 08037340560 (Text Only)
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect WikkiTimes’ editorial stance.
