Ambode, that he would kick in motion the enforcement of the ban on
street hawking in Lagos, road merchandisers have increased in number.
In july, the governor had stated that anyone caught hawking on the
streets of Lagos would be prosecuted. The prosecution would cover the
hawker and the customer. They would either get a fine of N90,000 or
spend six months in prison. Following the announcement, many Lagos
residents had thought that the battle line was drawn. They thought some
punitive actions were looming over the hawkers plying their trade across
the roads and streets of the state. Lagos residents were initially
watchful of their desire to purchase items on the road or patronise
street hawkers.
It is December, the street hawkers have remained unperturbed, even as
government seems to have left the hawkers to continue plying their trade
on the highways, byways and streets of the megacity. At the numerous
motor parks, bus stops and on the highways of Lagos, buying and selling
continues like in times past.
On most of the highways in Lagos, the spectacle that confronts one daily
is the sight of young and not-so-young men and women selling assorted
items in traffic. On the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Third Mainland
Bridge, Gbagada-Oshodi Expressway, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Ikorodu
Road, Funsho Williams Avenue, Lagos-Badagry Expressway, hawkers confront
motorists and commuters every day and keep commerce moving.
The reporter recently went round Lagos. It was still business as usual
across the major streets in Lagos Island and Ebute Ero. Nobody seemed to
remember Ambode’s directives. The roads were occupied by traders whose
activities impeded the free flow of traffic. At Ikorodu, Oshodi, Ikeja
and Iyana-Ipaja, Abule Ado, Alakija, the situation has not changed, even
as the traders appeared to be on the alert for the possible arrival of
Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) officials. Once alerted by their fellow
traders, they quickly disappear their wares only to resume trading after
the officials have gone, in a sort of cat-and-mouse game. The reporter,
however, observed some of the traders being arrested, especially at
Oshodi, and thrown behind the prison-like patrol vans used by KAI. But
many argued that it was very easy for the traders to bribe their way out
of incarceration. And as soon as they were freed, they returned to the
roads, hawking their merchandise, which has rendered the law impotent, a
resident told Daily Sun.
However, most of the street traders, who spoke to the reporter at some
of the places visited, simply dismissed the law as the usual posturing
by government. Some said they had little options, insisting that they
might die of hunger if they were not allowed to sell. Many argued that
the same government that initiated the law actually created the
conditions that forced them into street trading. As far as they were
concerned, trading on the streets and roads was the only available
alternative in the face of current economic realities.
One of the traders, Kelechi Chinedu, informed the reporter that the
demolition of the famed Tejuosho Market and the high cost of rent at the
new market built in its place left him with few options.
Hear him: “I owned a big shop where I was selling textile materials, but
after the demolition and reconstruction of Tejuosho Market, the shops
were taken away from us as we could not afford the new price. I used to
pay N5,000 monthly for my shop before the place was transformed to an
ultra-modern market. Since I could not afford to rent a shop at the
exorbitant amount they were charging, I had to resort to street trading
and petty business to keep body and soul together.’’
A street trader at Oyingbo market, a bustling community in Ebute Meta
area of Lagos Mainland, who identified herself as Mrs. Ifeoma Jude,
decried the government’s policy to ban street trading. She said
government functionaries were probably unaware of how hard living had
become for most Nigerians : “Our governments are not bothered about how
poor traders like us survive in this country. We know that street
hawking or selling things in traffic on the highways is very risky. But
how else does the government want the people to survive? Most of us
petty traders cannot go near many of these government-built lock-up
shops, because they are too expensive. Unfortunately, if we don’t go out
in a day to sell, we cannot feed our families.
“I don’t even understand the new law. Is it that they would go into
local streets and arrest hawkers that are not even on the highway? If
that is so, it would be unfair, because, selling goods and food items
from house to house is not new in many of our communities. I can only
imagine what offence they would say street traders have committed,
especially, those that are not blocking any part of the road.”
In all parts of the state, many hungry commuters lack the patience to
visit designated markets or eateries to quench their thirst or hunger.
Most of them wonder why they really need to, as they are readily greeted
with all kinds of snacks and wares by passionate sellers in traffic.
Indeed, buying and selling on the highway is a common feature in most
parts of Lagos State.
Some residents have said that selling goods in gridlocks is as old as
the state. Like in other parts of the country, many believe that hawking
is a practice that is traceable to the cultural background of the
indigenous people of Lagos and, indeed, the Yoruba.
Some craters and potholes on the bad portions of many roads, which would
compel motorists to slow down, have created permanent ‘sales points’
for highway trading. Hawking, as an enterprise, is, however, not limited
to major roads and highways during traffic jams. Hawking goods around
streets and roads is a general practice in Africa that predates
modern-day government, according to studies. Today, there is hardly any
part of West Africa where hawking or street trading is not practised,
especially in the downscale communities.
According to Taiwo Sulaimon, who hawks polythene (‘nylon’) bags and
other household items in the Egbeda suburb in Lagos, street trading has
been in existence even before she was born. She considered it odd that
an existing law would seek to jail or fine an offender to the tune of
N90,000, and wondered why a government that had not empowered her would
want to put her out of the business through which she was catering for
her family. In anger, she fired many questions at the reporter, who had
accosted her where she was selling goods to her customers: “They said we
should move away from Oshodi, we did. They said we should no longer
sell in traffic, and we moved. Is it the government that put me in
business? What offence did we commit for choosing to trade, even when
some others have chosen to steal? Is it that the governor does not want
us in town any longer?”
Recently, the reporter, in a bus going to Festac First Gate Bus Stop,
asked one of the passengers that bought some snacks from a food hawker
at Mile 2 if he was aware of the new law that could put even the buyer
in trouble. The passenger, who simply identified himself as John, criticized the law, even as he queried if that was one of the reasons
the incumbent political party was voted into power.
Said he: “Actually, candidly speaking, I know about the law. But I don’t
think the law is taking any effect on the buyers at all. I see KAI
people running after only the sellers occasionally. Nobody has ever
arrested a buyer that I know of. How do you prove it? Such a gesture
would only lead to public uproar and fighting, because you do not see me
with a kiosk or tray of goods. How are you sure that I have not brought
out my food from my bag? Sometime ago, I saw Governor Ambode on a local
television station spitting fire, threatening to arrest both the buyer
and the seller. I think, most times, our government officials misplace
their priorities. This is not a developed setting yet, our government
should note that.
“I can tell you that the people selling these goods on the road are not
happy themselves. So, why do we want to arrest poor people that are just
struggling to have something to eat? I don’t think this is what we need
now. People would only hate the APC government the more, as they are
already seeing it as an anti-people party. The okada people that are
plying the highway dangerously are still there. I know government tried
to send them off, but they are back because they have no other means of
survival.”
As harsh as the penalties are, the law has been hardly observed. The
government announcement in July came after the tragic incident of July
1, this year when a street hawker trying to escape from KAI officials
was run over by a BRT bus. The incident led to the destruction of dozens
of BRT buses by angry hawkers and touts.
But there seems to be a growing sympathy by many for street traders,
which suggests that the state government has a Herculean task as it
tries to sanitise the streets and roads. Lagos in particular, has a
thriving population of poor people who allegedly live on less than $1 a
day. The situation is even worse with the economic recession bedevilling
the country now.