CHILD STREET HAWKING AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR PEACE AND SECURITY IN IBADAN, OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Street hawking among children is a global sociological problem. Existing records in Nigeria have shown that the number of children involved in street hawking, especially in the urban areas is on the increase. Studies have mainly focused on the causes, prevalence and socio-economic consequences of Child Street Hawking (CSH) with little emphasis on its relationship with peace and security. Therefore, the causes, categories, effects and implications of CSH for peace and security in Ibadan were examined. Karl Marx’s Labour of Value and Barry Buzan’s Securitisation theories provided the framework, while the survey design was adopted. Twelve locations that have high number of child street hawkers (hawkers) across six local government areas - Akinyele, Ibadan North, Ibadan North-West, Ibadan North-East, Ibadan South-West and Oluyole - were selected. Primary data consisted of 561 validated copies of a questionnaire administered to 183 residents in street hawking environments, 175 hawkers, 104 market women, 18 Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps members, 40 Nigeria Police officers, 20 Juvenile Court officials and 21 motherless babies’ caregivers. These were complemented with 32 in-depth interviews (IDIs) conducted with six community leaders, three non-governmental organisation officials, 18 parents/guardians of hawkers, and five heads of vigilantes’ groups. Three focus group discussions (FGDs) were also held with the National Union of Road Transport Workers and two groups of Police Community Relation Committees. Secondary data were derived from relevant Nigeria’s existing legislations. Quantitative data were subjected to percentages, while qualitative data were content analysed. Majority (73.0%) of respondents agreed that the need to assist the family financially accounted for CSH. Also, 48.1% of the respondents attributed the problem to poverty. Furthermore, 40.5% of the respondents were of the view that the need to attend to school expenses was responsible for CSH. Personal observation during field work identified five main categories of CSH: full-time, part-time, after-school, seasonal and mobile hawking. Interviewees revealed that CSH affected the academic performance of children and led to some children dropping out of school. Discussants during FGDs submitted that hawkers were exposed to accidents, drug-peddling and addiction; they became vulnerable to sexual harassment and contributed to environmental pollution and hazards. Complacent hawkers were said to have aided and spied for criminal gangs and engaged in petty stealing, while some contributed positively to the peace and security of Ibadan by serving as informants to security agents. Child street hawking poses a major threat to social, physical, economic, and environmental peace and security of Ibadan; thus necessitating the need to improve the quality of lives of citizens by eradicating poverty and introducing free basic education for school age children. Therefore, the State should ensure the enforcement of the legislation on child rights to deter children from street hawking.