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Chidinma Abamen, a
nursing mother, said she was rudely awakened from sleep on Tuesday
morning by two young girls who usually sold yams and plantain to her in
the evenings. “I was surprised to see them at my doorstep early in the
morning,” she said. “They usually sell to me only in the evenings but
because they can’t go to school, they have to hawk to support their
parents.”

Mrs Abamen added
that seeing the children hawking when they should be in school is
disturbing, and would adversely affect their studies when they resume.
“I feel bad about it because I am a mother myself and it’s unfair for a
child to be doing this when he or she should be learning,” she said.
“The break has gone for too long and if it doesn’t stop soon, it would
affect the children badly. Some of them have even started forgetting
their books.”

Child hawkers increase

In the past three
weeks, the streets of Lagos have been filled with an increased number
of children being used in different kinds of labour; a situation which
has become worrisome to residents. The compulsory closure of primary
and secondary schools in the country by the federal government for the
period of the ongoing voter registration has resulted in more children,
especially among the low-income group, being pushed to the streets to
earn an income for their parents and keep them busy.

Consequently, this
has exposed them to crime, accidents and other vices. While some
private schools have begun to ignore the federal government’s directive
and have started opening their doors to their pupils, students of
public schools are left with no options. Most of them, therefore,
contribute the majority of child hawkers in Lagos streets.

Keeping them engaged

A vegetable trader
at Obalende Market, who identified herself as Mrs Mogaji, said she was
forced to bring her two daughters, students of Aunty Ayo Girls
Secondary School, to the market with her everyday to assist her in
attending to her customers. “I’m not happy that they are at home but
they have to support the family so they must work,” she said.

Sola Ajagbe, a
12-year-old boy, said he goes to his uncle’s workshop everyday to learn
how to fix deflated and spoilt tyres. He said his parents forced him to
learn the work early in the year when they found out about the extended
break. “My uncle is a vulcanizer, so I go to his place to learn work
everyday,” he said. “I want to go back to school. I don’t like the
work.”

Onyebuchi Iheama, a
Junior Secondary 2 student of Aguda Grammar School, Surulere, explains
her daily routine. “I start in the morning around 8 O’clock and I will
be selling,” he said. “When the sun comes out, I will go and rest and I
will continue again around 4 when the sun has gone down. The lesson is
too expensive and my parents cannot pay for it so I’ve not been reading
since we closed school last year.”

Too long for the kids

A mathematics
teacher of a public secondary school in Lagos, who did not want to be
named, complained that it would be difficult to bring the students back
on track in their studies when the schools resume.

“By the time we
resume, it would be so difficult to teach those students,” he said.
“Ordinarily, they play a lot during the holidays, and it takes time for
them to settle back to their studies. But this time around, it’s more
than holidays. Most of them would have forgotten what they learnt last
year and it is not good for them at all. We don’t need this kind of
backwardness in our educational system. The government should call the
students back to school.”

Also, Gabriel Ogunrinde, a father of two, expressed his fears that
if the voter registration exercise is extended, the students would be
at home for a much longer period. “So many people are agitating for an
increase in the voter registration exercise for obvious reasons,” he
said. “I agree with them but I hope this doesn’t mean the students
would still remain at home.”