Pros and Cons of Street Hawking
Street hawking is now illegal in Lagos.
Street hawking is no longer a new thing in major cities across Nigeria. If you have ever been to Lagos, you must have noticed a number of young men and women selling wares by the road sides, major bus stops and places that are usually characterized with heavy traffic.
It is not disputable that street hawking provides a means of livelihood for large number of youngsters who are unemployed. However, the legality of this street hawking has been a point of argument for quite some times now. I believe that every country and state has laws governing the ways businesses are conducted. But one thing I always tell anyone that wants to start a business is the need to comply with the laws in their country or state. For instance, prior to July 1st this year, street hawking has been the order of the day in Lagos, Nigeria. But now, there is a directive from the Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State that the Lagos State Taskforce on Environment and Special Offences should commence full enforcement against street trading and street hawking with effect from July 1st this year. That is just a digression as this platform is not for news.
My interest in this new development is to look at the pros and cons of street hawking and the implications of its ban on young entrepreneurs.
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Pros of Street Hawking
It doesn’t matter how bad the advocates of the banning of street hawking may paint it, street hawking still has some hidden benefits. These are discussed below:
It is a cheap way of starting a business: Our governments preach entrepreneurship but unfortunately our youths who are willing to start a business find it difficult to raise the initial capital. The cost of renting a shop alone is so high that an average budding entrepreneurship cannot afford to rent one. Therefore, instead of bemoaning lack of funds as the reason for not doing anything, some of these street smart individuals consider street hawking as an option. This has actually worked for many of them. Some of the shop owners today started their businesses through street hawking. Had it been they didn’t start at all, they wouldn’t have been where they are today. The money they would have tied down in renting a shop and not be able to buy inventories were used for the purchase of low cost inventories. As a result of quick turnover they usually enjoy, it is easy for street hawkers to quickly sell, make profit and replenish their stocks. With street hawking, it is easy to start with little capital and with little inventory.
Street hawking equips our youths for entrepreneurship: If you want to see how people hustle to earn their living, just go to Lagos roads. You will see how young boys and girls are running after vehicles for them to make a sale. To make a sale, they need to learn how to strategically position themselves in a place where they can easily make sales. Also, they know their target customers. When you see a person selling sausage rolls, before you know what is happening, another person selling drinks will approach you. At their young age, they know how to manage working capital so that they will not just remain in the business; they make savings that will help them secure their own shops.
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Street hawking reduces crimes: The fact that these young men and women are engaged in productive activities, they are less susceptible to crimes. An idle hand is the devil’s workshop. In fact, this is my major concern about the banning of street hawking. It is not that I totally support street hawking. But with the current level of unemployment in the country, we may need to do whatever we can to encourage entrepreneurship. If those people who are willing to work are now being pushed out from their means of livelihood, this will heighten the pressure that is already on ground. And this may not help our economy.
Street hawking reduces inflation: Although street hawkers may seem insignificant when compared with the level of activities that take place within our economy, they still influence the pricing of some consumer goods. With street trading, you don’t have any overheads to pass to the customers. Therefore, street traders can afford to sell their merchandise at cheap prices. This provides options for customers. The fact that sellers in the markets are aware of these street sellers, they are forced to bring down their prices so that customers will not turn to buy from street hawkers. You can virtually buy almost everything while on traffic on your way home from work.
Cons of street hawking
The government must have weighed the cons of street trading before reaching the conclusion that it has to be banned. Some of these cons are discussed below:
Street hawking is risky: The risks attached to street trading are quite high. The person that is hawking on the road is exposed to danger of being hit by a moving vehicle. I belief that it was the recent case of a hawker that was knock down by a truck that forced government to embark on the full enforcement of the banning of street hawking. Also, street hawking poses a risk to other road users. A driver may end up hitting another vehicle in the process of avoiding hawkers running after a moving vehicle in order to catch up with a customer.
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Sales of counterfeit products: A lot of stolen, counterfeit and expired products are being sold in traffic and road sides. Even if the customer discovers, it must have been too late. It is difficult to trace hawkers to any specific address. Therefore, customers are always at the receiving end.
Loss of revenue to the government: Street trading is an informal sector of our economy. Generally, hawkers don’t pay taxes. There is no way to capture them within the tax bracket as their transactions are mostly in cash basis. Majority of them don’t even have a bank account.