Dr. Ibrahim Badamasi Lambu1
& Dr. Adam Modu Abbas2
1Department of Geography,
Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Bayero University Kano
2Department of Geography,
Faculty of Humanities, Management and Social Sciences, Federal Univeristy, Kashere, Gombe
State, Nigeria
Email:iblambu@yahoo.com dradamabbas28@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The paper explores the
cultural attitudes of buying and selling along the road side popularly known as
Street Hawking. The aim of it is to offer explanation on the reasons for the
perpetuity of the attitudes despite the Kano State Government’s effort to
settle down the persons involved in designated areas within the metropolis. In
this study, areas and reasons for the Street Hawking were identified; risks and
inconveniences of the activities of the hawking as well as people responses
were examined. It is a cross sectional research that involves both quantitative
and qualitative type of data. Number of hawkers at clusters/points and hawking preferences
were all captured. Questionnaires and interviews were employed for the
quantitative and qualitative data collection respectively. The study discovered
that road junctions and round-about are the areas of dense hawking activities
followed by commuter stations and bus stops. Problem of parking spaces at the
market sites and shopping complexes for shopping make many people to patronize
hawking. Some people describe hawking as an ‘at side’ opportunity for buyers
from wasting time to locate where certain goods are sold in the market. Many
people described the act as nuisance, due to risk involved especially in
crossing of roads by the chasing hawkers in trying to reach a customer. The
action which is often tagged ‘aggressive marketing’. Many hawkers sustain
injuries in the process, or loss some of their merchandise into moving vehicles
and a time collect fake currency notes unknowingly. Some road users also complain
of congestion as a result of hawking along the roads. High rent of shops, Kiosks
and selling spaces/points made many people to adopt hawking coupled with their
low capital base. Majority of the Hawkers collect the goods from some
distributors without paying and only to make returns after sales are made. The
study pathetically discovered that the profits accrued to Hawkers are too meager
since they have no much time to bargain the buying price with people in moving
vehicles and have no right to bargain with their distributors due to lack of
capital base. The loitering under the sun and rain affects their health (mental
and moral) hence at high risk of ailment. The study recommends for provision of
business outlets at strategic positions to reduce the cost of rent in the
bigger markets for the poor to earn living with minimum duress.
Keywords: Preference, mapping, street hawking, value, segregation, a side
