Eking out a Living through Street Hawking and the Dilemma of Coping with Government Harassment in Lagos State, Nigeria

This research seeks to address the lives of the hawker as witnessed by many people in the major towns. It seeks to define the meaning of the hawkers, their work and the limitations they face while carrying out their business. Analysis has been done to show the composition of the hawkers regarding their marital status, educational levels and the number of hours that these hawkers carry out their work in a day. Challenges the hawkers face as far as the government is concerned has been discussed at length. Various people have criticized hawker’s relationship with the government. The government has been adamant in legalizing the hawking business, but this report has come out with the underlying benefits of the hawking industry if well established and promoted by the government. Hawking has been a source of employment for thousands of people both the educated and uneducated due to expanding levels of unemployment in the country. In turn, many people have finally found themselves in the informal sector so as to earn living from it. At the end of the research, recommendations have been discussed that can effectively deal with the ongoing government-hawkers relationship.