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Ambode And The Street Traders Of Lagos By Reuben Abati
I am writing this piece after holding a series of conversations with Lagos street traders and hawkers who seem not be aware of or are just indifferent to, or may be they are intrigued by, the fact that the State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has declared on television that the state government is prepared to enforce an existing law banning street hawking.
The relevant law, the Lagos State Street Trading and Illegal Market Prohibition Law, 2003 prescribes a punishment of N90, 000 or a six-month jail term, for both the buyer and the seller of any goods or services on the streets. So I asked this vendor, who kept pushing copies of the day’s newspapers in my face, so close, you wouldn’t even be able to read the headline free of charge.
“My friend, are you aware that what you are doing is illegal? You never hear say Governor Ambode don ban street trading?”
“That one no concern vendor oh. Na these other people wey dey sell chewing gum and water dem dey talk about”
“No. Street trading is street trading. You are hawking your newspapers, why don’t you get a shop or a stand?”
“Make I open shop to sell newspaper? Na for inside traffic people dey buy newspaper, oga?’”
“I just hope they won’t arrest you. The fine is N90, 000 or six months in jail.”
“Oga, you wan buy paper? Which one you wan buy, I beg. See, the thing be say, for this Nigeria, anytime wey anybody reach power, dem go just dey do wetin dey like. Dey no dey pity we poor people at all.”
I laughed and drove off.
“Water! Water!”, I yelled at a young man carrying a small basket of drinks. He ran to the car from the other side of the road, side-stepping a Keke Marwa and almost colliding with a motorcycle.
“How much?”
“N100”
“Can I buy because I hear the Governor says they should arrest anybody that is hawking anything in Lagos. And this is Agidingbi oh, too close to Alausa. Please.”
“Oga buy wetin you wan buy. If we no sell water for traffic, you know how many people go don die for inside go-slow. When traffic start now, even Ambode go buy water for inside traffic drink.”
“Oya, bring it quickly. Don’t let those LASTMA people see you.”
“Which LASTMA people? Oga, relax. Na we-we. As we dey this street so, nobody fit remove us.“
As I listened to his attempt to share his knowledge of the streets, I heard the clanging of a bell. A bicyclist was approaching, a mini-cooler, hanging conspicuously in his front. Fan Ice! Fan Milk! A young girl passed, carrying a tray of groundnuts. The early morning traffic was beginning to build up, 24 hours after Governor Ambode huffed and puffed on television about street hawking.
I immediately remembered Olajumoke Orisaguna, the Nigerian Cinderella, who made it from street hawking to the runway. It occurred to me to ask one of the hawkers.
“Do you know Olajumoke?”
“Olajumoke, oni bread. Oga you sef, e ti jasi. Don Jazzy, Baba. If Olajumoke no sell bread for street, how dem for discover say him get talent. Oga, as you me so, I be student oh for Polytechnic. The money I make from the street, that ‘s what I use to maintain myself and one day, if I become Governor in this country, I‘ll remember and I will not ban street hawking.”
That was some sobering thought. The sociology of street trading is worth understanding. It is mostly a source of employment for many persons with low income and low education, and in its more structured format, a large part of the informal sector in many parts of the world. For the buyer who has been demonized along with the seller in the Lagos state law, street trading actually provides easy access to a lot of goods and services, and when you are trapped in the ubiquitous traffic hold-ups across the city, running into hours oftentimes, it helps to just look out the window and buy any food item ranging from fish, to fried meat and shrimps, loaves of bread, biscuits, gala, meat pie, water, beer and any other drink. If it is a rainy day and you need to step out of the vehicle, you can buy an umbrella while in the traffic. You can also get served hot milk, tea or coffee, or have a shoe-shiner give your shoes a new, clean, gleaming look.
On a sunny and humid day, and you are thirsty, you can have very cold fan milk, or any other drink to cool down your system. Pop-corn, roasted maize, walnuts, name it, everything is available by the roadside, as the traffic crawls. If you have issues with your phone, or your wrist-watch, or even your clothes, you can buy new ones on the streets. Books, musical CDs, electronics, even sex toys, and aphrodisiacs. There is a special connection between traffic and street trading. But there are also challenges for all parties involved: for the buyer, you could get sold fake or risky stuff, and your money could be stolen – always collect the goods and your change before you hand over any amount.
The sellers always have to contend with physical risk and sexual abuses, run-ins with extortionist law enforcement officials, nerve-wracking exposure to the elements, and competition for space. People sell on the streets because they cannot afford to rent shops or erect structures, and in any case, government is often part of this problem. Markets are taken over by the authorities with the intention to modernize them, but when the shops and stalls are built, the original traders can no longer afford them because they would have been taken over by the rich and prized beyond the reach of the poor who are then forced onto the streets, thus deepening the agony of the displaced and the marginalized. This is the story of Tejuoso market in Lagos, as is the story of others across the country. If street traders had a choice, they would also acquire permanent structures where they can display their wares in safety. If they could help it, they will also sit in the comfort of air-conditioned vehicles. Traffic and street trading further define an existential part of the urban social order, and in Lagos as elsewhere, the character, pulse and soul of the city.
The convenient tendency for government officials is to dismiss the street as the haunt of miscreants, criminals and the dubious and street trading as a nuisance to the social order. This is what Governor Ambode of Lagos has done. The trigger for his televised sanctimony is the recent clash in Lagos at Maryland and Ojota, involving the law, traffic and street traders with tragic consequences. We are told that Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) officials had given a hawker the chase, that fateful day. As the young man ran across the busy expressway, he found himself in front of an on-coming state-government owned BRT bus, which crushed him instantly – his intestines gouged out. This resulted in mob action.
In the process, 49 BRT vehicles, belonging to the state government were torched, and according to the Governor, it will cost the state government “almost N139 million to put those buses back on the road.” The Governor sounds as if the loss of these buses is more painful than the death of Nnamdi, the street hawker who was chased to his death. Haba, Governor, se oro ni yen! The Governor needs to be reminded of the over-zealousness of KAI-LASTMA officials and the recklessness, also, of BRT bus drivers, and the fact that N139 million may replace buses, but it will not replace a life that has been lost. It is also hard to believe that the Governor’s position is based on the outcome of investigations, which try to distance the state officials from the accident, and even if this is so, the decision to exhume a law that is to all practical purposes, a dead law, only enforced opportunistically, does not fully address the issue. A law is dead as an instrument of social justice when it is openly defied, disregarded, resisted and attempts to enforce it are openly ridiculed, and the state itself finds its application difficult in the face of the people’s preferences and choices. The test and impact of any true law is in its application.
To get hawkers off the streets, government must provide alternative opportunities and invest more in social capital. The menace of traffic hold ups should be addressed and a proper transportation network must be in place. Shops and stalls must be affordable and accessible and markets should be located in user-friendly locations. Street hawkers are constrained by their social circumstances, most of all, by poverty. To check street trading, government must also address the rising threat of rural-urban migration. Lagos as a growing megalopolis is the destination of choice for all kinds of adventurers from Nigeria’s hinterlands, they arrive in the city, and having nothing to do, they manage to buy a basket, or a tray, which they fill with goods that may not be up to N5,000, and they jump onto the streets, struggling to earn a living as the traffic crawls.
To push them out is to destroy the only dream they have of remaining human. The state government should take a second look at the law: perhaps the most urgent thing is to insist that anyone of school age, must not be found hawking, during school hours. And no matter what, Governor Ambode should not rob us of the humour of the streets, a rich therapeutic part of life and living in Lagos. I remember as I say this, those young, nubile girls on the streets of Lagos who sell drugs and local herbs. They all have the same qualifications: their front-lamps are permanently in the North, staring directly into a man’s eyes. The girls are coy, friendly, optically tempting, and they only target men as customers. Even when you insist you don’t need what they sell, they won’t let you be.
“Oga, buy this tablet now. Or taste this drink. Madam will thank you for it.”
“Madam? She must not even know I spoke with you!”
“But she will thank you, I swear.”
“You have used it before?”
“Hen hen.”
“Okay. But before I buy anything, I must test it. And na me and you go test am. Enter moto, make we go.”
“Hen, go where? Oga, go test am with Madam for house.”
“No. I will test it on you first. Fine girl, you dey fear?”
Oftentimes, this is followed by much laughter with the girl scampering off…
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Republic of Benin Customs have launched a technology-driven system aimed at making cross-border trade between both countries faster, more transparent and easier for traders.
The initiative, known as the Customs Declaration Exchange System (CDES), is designed to connect the operations of the two customs administrations while improving coordinated enforcement and harmonising border procedures.
New Digital System Targets Border Delays
The Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, announced the initiative during the Joint Nigeria-Benin Customs meeting on the assessment of the One Stop Border Post at the Seme-Krake border in Lagos State.
The meeting was themed “Leveraging the Nigeria Customs Service Trade Modernisation Project to Advance Seamless Cross-Border Trade and Shared Responsibility.”
Adeniyi said the system is expected to improve interconnectivity between the two customs administrations and establish a framework for more accountable joint governance.
Focus on Women Traders
The Customs chief said the digital system would particularly benefit women who participate in informal cross-border trade.
According to Adeniyi, women account for more than 70 per cent of informal cross-border traders along the corridor. He said many women traders face challenges including harassment, extortion and delays while moving goods across the border.
The CDES is therefore expected to simplify procedures for small consignments and make information about customs requirements available in languages traders can understand.
A dedicated complaint channel is also expected to provide women traders with a way to report cases of poor treatment at the border.
System Could Reduce Repeated Customs Checks
Adeniyi said one of the major measures of the system’s success would be whether traders and transporters could avoid unnecessary duplication of customs procedures.
He gave the example of a truck carrying goods from Cotonou to Lagos, saying the objective was for it to clear the border once rather than undergo repeated processes on both sides.
He also said the system should eventually allow traders to cross the border within an hour rather than spending an entire day dealing with border procedures.
Nigeria, Benin Customs Plan System Interconnectivity
The technical team working on the project has presented processes for deploying the CDES across both countries.
The two administrations are also considering co-locating their customs administrations and systems at the border, which would allow officers on either side to access relevant information and coordinate decisions more effectively.
Adeniyi said connectivity between the systems would be critical to the success of the project.
He added that within about three months, the systems should begin working once the necessary technical connections and administrative cooperation are established.
Benin Customs Expresses Readiness
The Director-General of Customs in Benin Republic, Colonel Raouf Aboudou, expressed confidence in the initiative and pledged his administration’s cooperation.
Aboudou said the system was developed jointly by the two customs administrations and expressed optimism that it would improve trade between Nigeria and Benin.
He stressed that the success of the project would depend on joint commitment rather than policy declarations alone.
Potential Boost for Regional Trade
The initiative could also serve as a model for digital customs cooperation beyond the Nigeria-Benin corridor.
Adeniyi said that once the two countries achieve full interoperability, they would have created a possible template for online border crossings across ECOWAS and the wider African continent.
The move also aligns with broader efforts by West African customs administrations to harmonise procedures, strengthen digital interoperability and improve coordinated risk management.
For traders and transporters operating along the busy Nigeria-Benin corridor, the expected benefits include fewer delays, clearer customs requirements and more predictable border procedures.
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has approached Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for assistance in investigating the alleged mismanagement and diversion of funds released for US-backed health programmes in the country.
The investigation is expected to focus on organisations that received funding under programmes supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), particularly projects targeting HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis interventions.
FBI Seeks EFCC’s Assistance
The request was reportedly made during a meeting between officials of the FBI and EFCC in Lagos as both countries seek to strengthen cooperation on financial crimes involving international funds.
According to EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale, the request was presented by Macus Maccain, Assistant Law Enforcement Attaché of the FBI, during a visit to the office of Bawa Kaltungo, the EFCC Acting Zonal Director in Lagos.
Maccain said the engagement was aimed at strengthening collaboration between the two agencies and supporting investigations into financial irregularities linked to organisations that implemented US-funded programmes in Nigeria.
Probe Focuses on Funds Left After Programme Terminations
The investigation is particularly concerned with funds that remained with implementing organisations after some USAID-supported programmes were discontinued.
According to the FBI official, investigators want to establish how such funds were managed and whether any financial misconduct occurred following the termination of the programmes.
The development follows major changes to US foreign assistance programmes under the Donald Trump administration, which resulted in the cancellation, suspension or termination of several USAID activities.
Nigeria was among the countries where USAID had supported major health interventions over the years, including HIV testing, treatment and care, as well as tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
US Audits Raise Further Questions
The investigation comes amid continuing financial scrutiny of organisations that managed USAID resources in Nigeria.
Recent audits listed by the USAID Office of Inspector General included programmes managed by the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation Nigeria and Georgetown Global Health Nigeria.
These reviews have added to questions surrounding the administration and accounting of donor-funded programmes after money was released to implementing partners.
US Officials Raise Concerns Over Budgets
During the meeting with EFCC officials, Jeremy Kennon, a Special Agent with the Office of Inspector General of the US Department of State, said the United States and Nigeria had previously entered into agreements to fund HIV and tuberculosis interventions.
He explained that several organisations were involved in delivering healthcare services under the programmes, including the establishment of one-stop centres where people living with HIV could access treatment and related services.
Kennon said reviews of some programmes had raised concerns about inflated budgets and other financial irregularities in Kano State and other parts of Nigeria.
He added that the concerns were not limited to Nigeria but stressed that US authorities were interested in tracing how funds were handled by organisations connected to the affected programmes.
EFCC to Trace Movement of Funds
The EFCC has assured the US delegation that it will give the matter the necessary attention.
Kaltungo, who received the delegation on behalf of EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede, said the commission would investigate the allegations across the states where the affected organisations operated.
Investigators are expected to trace the movement of the funds and identify their ultimate beneficiaries where necessary. The agencies also expressed interest in developing a longer-term relationship focused on information sharing and access to financial records.
The investigation could therefore involve examining transactions from organisations that received USAID funds to other beneficiaries or accounts where investigators consider such tracing necessary.
No Finding of Diversion Yet
The investigation does not, at this stage, establish that USAID funds were unlawfully diverted.
Rather, US and Nigerian authorities are examining allegations and financial concerns surrounding how funds were administered, particularly after some programmes were terminated.
The outcome of the investigation will determine whether any individuals or organisations should face further action over suspected financial misconduct.
The Federal Government has begun moves to operationalise 112 as Nigeria’s single national emergency number, with the aim of giving citizens one toll-free line to access emergency assistance across the country.
The development follows the approval by the National Economic Council (NEC) of 112 as the unified emergency number across all levels of government and relevant response agencies.
FG Sets Roadmap for Nationwide Rollout
Vice President Kashim Shettima has directed relevant government agencies and stakeholders to develop a comprehensive operational roadmap for the nationwide implementation of the emergency number.
A committee comprising the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and other relevant agencies has been constituted to finalise the roadmap and standard operating procedures.
The plan will subsequently be presented to the NEC for formal endorsement.
One Number for Different Emergencies
Under the proposed unified system, Nigerians would no longer need to determine which emergency agency to contact before seeking help.
The 112 system is designed to provide access to the appropriate response for situations including security incidents, road accidents, fires, medical emergencies, natural disasters and other life-threatening situations.
Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Rilwan Disu said the adoption of a single emergency number would provide citizens with a simpler and more reliable way to seek urgent assistance.
FG Seeks Faster Emergency Response
The Federal Government said the initiative is intended to address fragmentation within Nigeria’s emergency response system, where different agencies and jurisdictions have historically operated through separate channels.
At the NEC meeting in April, Shettima said Nigerians facing emergencies needed a rapid response rather than bureaucratic delays. The council consequently approved 112 as part of efforts to create a more coordinated national emergency-response framework.
The government’s latest roadmap is expected to clarify responsibilities among participating agencies, establish operating standards and set milestones for implementation.
NCC Has Established Emergency Communication Centres
The NCC has already established about 35 Emergency Communications Centres (ECCs) across the country to support the national emergency response system.
NCC officials, however, have stressed that the success of the initiative will depend on stronger cooperation among state governments and emergency-response agencies.
The commission has also called for the maintenance of communications infrastructure already deployed and greater integration between the police, ambulance services, fire services and disaster-response agencies.
112 Already Exists, But FG Wants a Unified System
Although 112 is not a completely new emergency code in Nigeria, the current reform seeks to make it the single, coordinated national emergency lifeline.
Government officials have acknowledged that challenges including connectivity, management of Emergency Communication Centres and public awareness have affected the effectiveness of the existing system.
A government report earlier in 2026 found that about 80 per cent of states could access 112, while connectivity and awareness remained challenges.
The latest initiative is therefore focused not simply on assigning a number, but on ensuring that calls placed to 112 result in coordinated and timely responses.
Committee to Finalise Implementation
Stakeholders involved in the rollout include the police, NCC, NEMA, FRSC and other emergency-response institutions.
The government says the committee will develop the operational framework and standard operating procedures required to make 112 function as a reliable nationwide emergency service.
Once fully implemented, the system is expected to give Nigerians a single point of contact when they require urgent assistance.
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