CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Children are seen as vital element of development; hence, their well-being in the society is an index of social and economic development of that society. That is the reason child welfare is added in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), (UNESCO, 2010). But majority of them are denied this right by engaging them in different forms of child labor, mainly street vending. The street child is defined as any child who may have parents or guardians in a vicinity but dwelling and working in the street. Street children engaged in work or jobs on a daily basis with the purpose of earning a livelihood for themselves or for their families. Such activities are often executed at the expense of schooling. Therefore, children are not properly prepared for the future in a contemporary society, (UNICEF, 2010; FME, 2010). Vending is a marketing system made up of many buyers and sellers normally offering very small quantities for sale at a time. (Olukosi, Isitor, and Ode, 2010). It is this method of marketing that becomes a point of concern to the researcher as he sees mostly children of school age involved in street vending. According to Nseabasi and Oluwabamide (2010), Street vending is a negation of the international convention on the right of the child. It is indeed inhuman for anyone to involve a child in money-making ventures; because such a child is denied primary education which is a right for every child. In Nigeria, there has been an increase in the number of children trading or working in the rural areas which affects their acquisition of education and this can be linked to a lot of factors which according to Dustmann (2011), are: expenses of schooling, features of the child, parents, households and community, location and distance of primary school. Poverty and illiteracy are activated by traditional customs such as polygamy and preference for large family size. Street vending of children of school age is a threat to the progressive survival of the society; it warps government policies in the education of the young ones. It also distorts acquisition of vocational skills and important education thereby destroying the economic sector (Esweren 2008). Danesty and Okediran (2011) lamented that street hawking among young school students have psychologically imposed other problems, like sex networking behavior, juvenile delinquent behavior, which takes most of the students school time and result to poor academic performance and drop out syndrome noticed among young school students. In the recent times, street hawking has received considerable attention from public as well as government. However, parents and guardians are faced with the problems of running the families and provision for the primary needs of their children during this period when the rate of joblessness and poverty level is at the peak. Parents often argue that this necessitates them to solicit helping hands from their children through Hawking in other to make the family meet their ends (Esan, 2011). The poor socioeconomic status has often been outlined when parents are approched with the questions on why they send their children vending. Street vending is a process of selling goods or services on the street. According to Marie (2012), it is probably the riskiest type of trading worldwide. The streets are mainly made for vehicles. The sidewalks or pavements are not wide enough for pedestrians, let alone, vendors. However, poverty has been blamed as the vital cause of street hawking as many people do not have an opportunity to rent or to secure authorized places to hawk their items. According to Olagunju (2009), a hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with peddler or costermonger. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells items that are native to the area. Hawking is a universal activity, the street hawkers in Argentina are called manteros, and they are mostly illegal immigrants without document and in most cases, victims of illegal immigration. In London, they are called costermonger. Organized yet semi-obvious, they are ubiquitous, and their street cries could be heard everywhere. In North America, hawkers are commonly known as street vendors, they sell snack items while in the Caribbean, and hawkers are commonly referred to as hagglers. The emergence of street vending in Nigeria has been so common of which it has now become an eyesore situation. The pathetic aspect of it is that children are the victim of this omen. According to Ndipe (2010), sick perverts capitalize on this “accepted practice of street hawking by the kids and lure these unsuspecting traders to their house with the pretext of patronizing their wares. Then innocent children soon become the subject of sexual abuse and a threat of punishment would silent them of speaking out. According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (2012), there are more than five million vendors in Nigeria, 80% 0f who are adolescents some of whom are still in secondary schools. Hence the study examines the effect of street vending on children of school age and its implication for social work practice in primary schools in Nsukka.

1.2      STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

In the developing countries especially in traditional African society where there are ineffective machinery to enforce child welfare, majority of the children in the rural area find it difficult to survive as a result of economic status of their parent. Hence, life in the rural areas poses a lot of challenges for the children. In coping with these, some of the children engage in various kinds of activities in order to survive. Some of these activities are sometimes hazardous to the health and education of the child. Therefore, child street vending is a threat to the continue survival of the society; distort government policy with respect to education of the youth due to high dropout rate. It distorts acquisition of vocational skills and relevant education thereby destroying the economic sector (Okumadewa, 2008). Also physical stress due to the age and maturation of the child is affected leading to low concentration at school and breakdown of health of the child. Therefore the study examines the effect of street vending on children of school age and its implication for social work practice in primary schools in Nsukka.

1.3      AIMS OF THE STUDY

The major aim of the study is to examine the effect of street vending on children of school age and its implication for social work practice in primary schools in Nsukka. Other specific objectives of the study include;

1.  To examine the causes of street vending on children of school age.

2.  To examine the prevalence of child-street vending in Nigeria.

3.  To examine the effect of street vending on children of school age and its implication for social work practice in primary schools in Nsukka.

4.  To examine the impact of social work practice on child street vending.

5.  To examine the relationship between street vending on children of school age and its implication for social work practice in primary schools in Nsukka .

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.   What are the causes of street vending on children of school age?

2.  What is the prevalence of child-street vending in Nigeria?

3.  What is the effect of street vending on children of school age and its implication for social work practice in primary schools in Nsukka?

4.  What is the impact of social work practice on child street vending?

5.  What is the relationship between street vending on children of school age and its implication for social work practice in primary schools in Nsukka ?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Hypothesis 1

H0: There are is no significant effect of street vending on children of school age and its implication for social work practice in primary schools in Nsukka.

H1: There is a significant effect of street vending on children of school age and its implication for social work practice in primary schools in Nsukka.

Hypothesis 2

H0: There is no significant relationship between street vending on children of school age and its implication for social work practice in primary schools in Nsukka.

H1: There is a significant relationship between street vending on children of school age and its implication for social work practice in primary schools in Nsukka.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study will be of profound benefits to enlighten the general public on the effect of street vending on children of school age, and the need to avoid it. This study would also be of immense benefit to students and scholars who are interested in developing further studies on the subject matter.

1.7 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study is restricted to effect of street vending on children of school age and its implication for social work practice in primary schools in Nsukka.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview)

Time constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Social work:  is a profession oriented towards helping people in need. “Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people.

A street vendor:  is a person who offers goods or services for sale to the public without having a permanently built structure but with a temporary static structure or mobile stall (or head-load).