Kuburat(not real name) who was hawking sachet water otherwise known as ‘pure water’ was recently knocked down by a vehicle on top speed at Agege area in Lagos state as she was about to cross the road to attend to a customer. All attempt to save her life by the people in the vicinity proved abortive as she gave up the ghost before getting to the hospital. She was aged 11. According to the people at the scene of the accident, the total cost of her goods could not be more than N500. The scenario above aptly captured the risk being faced by millions of children in Nigeria who daily hawk on major streets across the country. For those who are lucky not to be killed by hit and run drivers, they end up being raped by wicked men(if they are girls) and many contract deadly sexually transmitted infections including HIV/ AIDS; some may even end up as prostitutes while the boys may become armed robbers or gangster Street hawking is common sight in Nigeria’s cities., the practice has been on the rise which perhaps is the result of spiraling poverty and the worsening economic situation Children especially the girls sell products such as boiled groundnut, fruit and chips that they carry on trays balanced on their heads. The menace of child hawking can never be over-emphasized. Unfortunately, it appears to be a normal business in Nigeria, hence most people do even as much as arch an eyebrow at it, let alone proffer sustainable solutions to it. Street hawking entails selling various items on the streets, sachet water, bottled water, bottled and canned soft drinks, beef rolls, sausage rolls, sweets, gums, sunshades, phones, power banks, wall papers, vegetables, some other items inclusive. Myriads of children are found hawking or begging for alms on streets with high traffic jam intensity, and selected residential areas in a bid to survive and make a living. What should get one-thinking is the fact that most of these kids have parents, yet they seem unconcerned that their children do such for a living. Some children even go as far as migrating to busy cities to engage in such activities, and it is really disheartening. Investigations by Saturday Mirror revealed that most traders are not sent by their biological parents, as some of them have been sent away from their families to faraway climes as hired help. Sometimes, they are taken away by a relation on the pretext of helping them out but end up in the streets selling one thing or the other. Some people use the same pretext of helping poor families to take these children and traffic them to other cities. The hazards associated with children hawking and begging on the streets are enormous and cannot be overrated. Agreed some few get to save something meaningful from it, but so many others get killed by stray bullets or reckless drivers, get rapped, face teenage pregnancy or have to undergo abortion, some get robbed; become armed robbers and prostitutes, and so many other unbecoming occurrences. In a study carried out in Aba metropolis by the Department of Community Medicine Department of Paediatrics, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Amassoma, Bayelsa State over half of the hawkers were children between the ages of 10 and 19 years. The involvement of children in street hawking constitutes child labor and is a form of child abuse. Findings from this study revealed that a large number of people; children, men and married women indulge in street hawking as a means of livelihood. Unemployment and poverty were identified as factors contributing to hawking activities. Street hawking poses numerous health and social risks, hinders educational development and should be discouraged. The authors therefore, recommend the strict implementation of policies against Street hawking activities. Government support in job creation and poverty alleviation would help to mitigate this trend. The International Labour Organization estimates that in Nigeria about 14 million children between the ages of five and 14 are involved in a form of economic activity. Globally there are 168 million children involved in child labour. Of these, 59 million are from sub-Saharan Africa. Child Street hawking is one of the main forms of child labour. Others include children working at building sites or on farms. Nigeria’s population is estimated at 183 million with about 50% below the age of 18. There is a need for the government to make adequate provisions for education, care and protection for this group, if the nation wants to progress. In 2008, the Lagos state government banned Child Street hawking during school hours to reduce the practice. But since then, addressing child street hawking has not been on the government’s agenda. Street hawking has huge implications for children’s physical and emotional well-being. It exposes them to sexual abuse, physical exhaustion, vehicle accidents, death and malnourishment and drug and substance abuse and prostitution. Research shows that among the young girls who street hawk, there is a low awareness of pregnancy or the risk of sexually transmitted infections. Researchers have described child street hawking as an exploitative form of child labour. There are three ways that children become street hawkers. First, most of them are trafficked from the rural communities to the cities for illicit businesses. The second way is through their parents, who send them to the street to hawk to supplement their family income. In most cases, their families migrated to the city on their own but could not cope with the high cost of living. Deplorable living conditions and the high rate of unemployment in rural communities because of the government’s focus on development projects in cities have given people no option but to migrate to the city. It fosters the notion that migrating to the city is the best way to break the poverty cycle. Third, they are orphans who lost their parents either to disease or terrorist activity. They live on the street and hawk for survival According to Mr Isiaka Saheed, a lawyer and public affairs analyst, Child street hawking opposes the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. “Nigeria is a signatory to the convention, which was established in 1989. The convention makes it an offence to involve children in an activity which impacts negatively on their health and well-being. The convention also emphasizes the need for the government to protect children from exploitation” He added: “In addition to the convention, Nigeria’s Child Rights Act has similar provisions. It says children should be protected from trafficking and/or street hawking. But the implementation of these provisions has been abysmal to date. Children are still being trafficked and pushed into street hawking despite the many dangers associated with it. In the past the government has provided some structural interventions. These include the Universal Basic Education programme. Introduced in 1999, it was intended to guarantee tuition-free compulsory basic education for all children in Nigeria. But due to poor infrastructure, inadequate funding and lowering education standards, the impact is yet to be felt. Despite the emotional trauma and physical dangers these vulnerable children face, little is being done to protect them or to discourage such practices. Poverty alleviation, health education and protective child rights policies would decrease the prevalence of child street hawking. A Sociologist and a public affairs analyst Mr. Tajudeen Isola said the parents of children who street hawk should be empowered economically, to be able to take care of them. “ But the government should also create awareness about child trafficking and provide affected children with support. Constantly denying children their right to be protected and cared for has an impact on their effective development and well-being and is an injustice. A concerted effort should be made to implement the UN convention and the provisions of the Child Rights Act. More importantly, the government must understand the psychological impact of this trade. It must tailor interventions to meet the needs of these children and to reduce the practice” ‘Measures such as; providing free education to all children at the primary level, strict enforcement of the law against child abuse, arresting parents whose children are found hawking on the streets could be used to control and gradually eradicate child abuse of any form especially hawking and begging alms on the street. Two, like many other members of the public who was interviewed had the following to say on this issue; “I find parents who encourage their ward to wander off and beg on the for alms despicable and unfit to be called parents in any case, the government has a huge part to play in enforcing the child act law… providing infrastructure, and improving the economic standards to accommodate the poor and less privileged in our society. Even if the family needs to survive, it shouldn’t be at the expense of the children. Most families that involve in such give excuses due to poverty level. Nothing can justify such act. The kids are just on their formative years and can’t make informed decisions. I think parents that involve in such lack sense of responsibility and vision… Parents should be responsible for their kids and not vice versa. The dangers include; deprivation of education which is a form of empowerment, exposure to sexual abuse, development of thuggery activities, kidnapping for rituals or trafficking for body organ usage, exposures to various infections (like pneumonia, malaria, HIV, e.t.c) and psychological and emotional defeat among other kids and peers” “Possible solutions could include; re-orientation for kids and parents, adequate empowerment of parents, registration of such kids into formal educative schools, employing the service of genuine social workers in collaboration with government and NGOs with the aim to rehabilitate scheme, more donors towards achievement of goals, after few years of progress, the government puts and enforces a law that bans or prohibits child begging with remarkable penalty and adverts/advocacy campaign against such act should be launched” One of the parents whose child was hawking had this to say; “work na work, and person need to survive. E no get where bad things no dey happen, but na God dey keep person. As government say we must buy shop, where they want make we see the money?” Apart from children young adults and adults also engage in hawking for various reasons. In a visit to some of the motor parks in Nigerian cities, some ingenious youths expressed their views on their efforts to resist economic hardships. Kabiru, an 18-year old boy, explained that he lost his father two years ago. With no job for his mum and as the first child out of four, he has to take up the responsibility to fend for the family. Through trading, he has seen himself through secondary school. Another woman, who sells plantain chips at a motor park in Ibadan explained “I come from Gbongan everyday to sell chips here at Ibadan.” Gbongan is one of the towns in Osun state, while Ibadan is the capital city of Oyo state. “I am not restricted to a particular area because there are needs, demands and responsibilities to be met at home,” she said. Chukwudi Obi, 23, had to halt his university studies when his parents could no longer pay his fees after their retirement. He resorted to selling headphones, car chargers, and other electronics on the road. “I was in my second year when my parents lost their jobs.This made me stop my University education to settle for electronics hawking. I believe that as much as there is life, there is hope; there is much to be enjoyed after struggle,” Obi quipped. With no end in view to this manner of trading, will the legislation be reviewed in favour of these ones? Or will they be totally scrapped from Nigerian roads? The answer still hovers in space.]]>