Alternative Strategy and Innovative Intervention for Street Trader Management in Lagos
Keywords:
Employment, Entrepreneurship, Informal Economy, Street Traders, Sky-Market
Abstract
Traders line many streets in Lagos and are considered a menace to the city. These traders are a substantial segment of the informal sector, which employs up to 70 % of the working population. Yet traders on Lagos streets are susceptible to risks to health, auto accidents and extortions/multiple taxation. Therefore, based on data from 45 semi-structured interviews among street traders in Lagos, as well as Neil Brenner’s Critical Urban and Oscar Newman’s Defensible Space, this study examines existing street trader management in Lagos. The findings reveal that over half of the traders are male and make an average of N2500 ($6) per day. Also, about half of the respondents crave individual space to sell and believe that this will increase patronage. The results also indicate that traders are sometimes sick and unable to engage in trading activities due to dust inhalation, sunburn and malaria. The study concludes that an important overlooked street trader management solution for Lagos lies in innovative intervention and therefore recommends the adoption of a Sky-Market Concept which integrates the attributes of a pedestrian bridge and street stalls, especially at major transportation nodes where trading activities tend to spill onto the road thereby impeding the flow of vehicular traffic. This study has advanced the literature on street trading by advocating the adoption of a special progressive model for street trader management in Lagos.
References
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Roy, A. (2015). What is urban about critical urban theory? Urban Geography, 1-14. Retrieved 23/11/2018 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2015.1105485
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2012). (Eds.). Research methods for business students. Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, England: Pearson Education Limited.
Skinner, C. (2008). Street trade in Africa: A review. WIEGO Working Paper No 5 WIEGO Legal Brief No 4, Retrieved 28/08/2018 from http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Skinner_WIEGO_WP5.pdf
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Waziri, M. & Umar, A.A. (2016). Nature and effects of street trading in Maiduguri Metropolis, Borno State, Nigeria. Journal of Social and Management Sciences, 2(1), 37-46.
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Williams, C.C. & Gurtoo, A. (2012). Evaluating competing theories of street entrepreneurship: Some lessons from a study of street vendors in Bangalore, India. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal. ISSN 1554-7191. (Online). DOI 10.1007/s11365-012-0227-2.
Anetor, F. O. (2015). An investigation into the value of street vending in Nigeria: A case of Lagos State. Journal of Marketing and Consumer Research, 11, 35-40.
Balogun, F.A. (2013). Management of traditional markets in Ibadan, Nigeria: A focus on Oja’ba and Oje markets. Accessed 28/08/2018 from http://www.regionalstudies.org/uploads/BALOGUN_Femi_Adekunle.pdf
Bénit-Gbaffou, C. (2015). In quest for sustainable models of street trading management: Lessons for Johannesburg after operation clean sweep. Accessed 28/08/2018 from https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/faculties-and-schools/-engineering-and-the-built-environment/research-entities/cubes/documents/In%20quest%20for%20sustainable%20models%20of%20street%20trading%20management.pdf
Bhowmik, S. (2005). Street vendors in Asia: A review. Economic and Political Weekly, May 28-June 4, 2256-2264.
Blandford, A. (2013). Semi-structured qualitative studies. In: Soegaard, Mads and Dam, Rikke Friis (Eds.). ‘The encyclopedia of human-computer interaction. (2nd ed.).’ Aarhus, Denmark: The Interaction Design Foundation. Accessed 16/08/2019 from http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1436174/2/semi-structured_qualitative_studies.pdf
Bogoro, A.G. (2016). Effects of street trading on urban areas in Nigeria. Global Advanced Research Journal of Management and Business Studies, 5(2), 51-56.
Brenner, N. (2009). What is critical urban theory? City, 13(2–3), 198-207.
Chen, M.A. (2012). The informal economy: Definitions, theories and policies. WIEGO Working Paper, 1(26), 1-26. Retrieved 1/07/2019 from http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Chen_WIEGO_WP1.pdf
Cohen, L. Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in education. (6th ed.). London: Routledge
Denscombe, M. (2010). The good research guide for small-scale social research projects. McGraw-Hill International.
Donnelly, P.G. (2010). Newman, Oscar: Defensible space theory. Accessed 4/03/2019 from https://ecommons.udayton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026andcontext=soc_fac_pub
Flick, U. (1998). An introduction to qualitative research. London: Sage Publications
Horn, R. (2010). Researching and writing dissertations: A complete guide for business and management students. CIPD: London.
ILO (2002). Decent work and the informal economy. Report VI, International Labour Conference, 90th Session, International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland.
LASG (2019). About Lagos: Demography. Accessed 17/08/2020 from https://lagosstate.gov.ng/about-lagos/
Mitullah, W.V. (2004). A review of street trade in Africa. A review commissioned by Women in Informal Employment Globalising and Organising [WIEGO]. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA. Accessed 30/11/2024 from https://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Mitullah_REVIEW_STREET_TRADE.pdf
Morrison, K. R. B. (1993). Planning and accomplishing school-centred evaluation. Dereham, UK: Peter Francis.
Nduka, I. & Duru, C.O. (2014). The menace of street hawking in Aba metropolis, South-East Nigeria. Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences, 5(6), 133-140.
Newman, O. (1971). Architectural design for crime prevention. National Institute of Justice. Accessed 23/03/2019 from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitisation/147952NCJRS.pdf
Newman, O. (1996). Creating defensible space. Centre for Urban Policy Research Rutgers University. Accessed 4/03/2019 from https://www.huduser.gov/publications/pdf/def.pdf
Nyemb, J.J. (2017). Turning the law into a shield for street vendors in African countries. WIEGO Legal Brief No 4, Retrieved 28/08/2018 from http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Nyemb-Law-Shield-Street-Vendors-Africa-WIEGO-LB4.pdf
Ofori, B.O. (2007) ‘The Urban Street Common Problem: Spatial Regulation of Informal Economic Units in Accra’ A thesis presented to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University in Partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
Ogunkan, D.V. (2019). Physical planning implications of street vending in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. Covenant Journal in the Research Built Environment (CJRBE), 7(2), 53-73.
Omoegun, A.O. (2015). Street Trader displacements and the relevance of the right to the city concept in a rapidly urbanising African city: Lagos, Nigeria. Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Cardiff University, UK. Accessed 28/08/2018 from https://orca.cf.ac.uk/72513/1/Ademola%20Omoegun%20Thesis.pdf
Onigbinde, O. (2017). Lagos’ informal sector: Taxation and contribution to the economy. Heinrich Böll Foundation Nigeria. Retrieved 28/08/2018 from https://ng.boell.org/sites/default/files/uploads/2017/02/budgit_final_report_30.1.17.pdf
Otekhile, C. & Matthew, O. (2017). An explorative study of the contribution of the informal sector to economic activities in Lagos Nigeria. 20th International Scientific - Enterprise and Competitive Environment. March 9-10. Brno, Czech Republic. 7-13.
Owusu, A.B. Abrokwah, S. & Frimpong, S. (2013). Analysis of the spatial and temporal dynamics of street hawking: A case study of the Accra Metropolitan Area. Journal of Geography and Geology, 5(4), 169-180. Published by the Canadian Centre of Science and Education
Patton, M.Q. (1980). Qualitative evaluation methods. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Roy, A. (2015). What is urban about critical urban theory? Urban Geography, 1-14. Retrieved 23/11/2018 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2015.1105485
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2012). (Eds.). Research methods for business students. Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, England: Pearson Education Limited.
Skinner, C. (2008). Street trade in Africa: A review. WIEGO Working Paper No 5 WIEGO Legal Brief No 4, Retrieved 28/08/2018 from http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Skinner_WIEGO_WP5.pdf
Stanley, P.R.A. (1977). Crime prevention through environmental design: A review. Criminal Area Pamphlets, 57(5), 1-57. Accessed 4/032019 from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitisation/43558NCJRS.pdf
Waziri, M. & Umar, A.A. (2016). Nature and effects of street trading in Maiduguri Metropolis, Borno State, Nigeria. Journal of Social and Management Sciences, 2(1), 37-46.
WHO 2019. Flooding and communicable diseases fact sheet. Accessed 17/08/2019 from https://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/ems/flood_cds/en/
Williams, C.C. & Gurtoo, A. (2012). Evaluating competing theories of street entrepreneurship: Some lessons from a study of street vendors in Bangalore, India. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal. ISSN 1554-7191. (Online). DOI 10.1007/s11365-012-0227-2.
Published
2023-09-01
Section
Articles
