Despite efforts by the Kogi State government to take children off the streets and return out-of-school children to the classroom, street hawking, particularly among adolescent girls, continues to thrive in Lokoja, the state capital, as families struggle with economic hardship.
Investigation by LEADERSHIP Sunday revealed that many children, especially girls from low-income households, engage in street hawking to support their families, while some have been forced to abandon their education because their parents could not afford their school fees and other essential financial needs.
One of the parents, Shefiya Abubakar, a widow residing in the Kabawa area of Lokoja, said she depended on her petty trading business and the proceeds from her children’s hawking to provide for her family.
Abubakar, who said she has four children and no regular source of income, explained that her husband’s death had left her with the responsibility of catering for the family.
“I’m a widow with four children. I have no job. I take care of my children through selling tomatoes and pepper. But I’m planning to send my eldest daughter to school.
“The others will continue to help me until things get better,” she said.
She expressed hope that improved financial circumstances would enable her to enrol her daughter in school and reduce the family’s dependence on the children’s earnings.
Similarly, Nanahawa Kadiri, one of the girls engaged in hawking in Lokoja, said she dropped out of school after completing primary education because her parents could not afford to enrol her in secondary school.
Kadiri explained that her father worked at night, while her mother sold goods at Pata Market, adding that she usually assisted her mother after school before she eventually stopped attending classes.
She lamented that most of her former classmates had proceeded to secondary school while she remained out of school, hawking to support her family.
“My mates are now in secondary school. I want to join them. Mummy said I will go to secondary school when she and my father save some money,” she said.
Her experience reflects the challenges confronting other children who engage in street hawking, with poverty and the inability of parents to meet educational expenses contributing to their prolonged absence from the classroom.
However, the Kogi State Government, through the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) Project, has reaffirmed its commitment to improving learning opportunities and life outcomes for out-of-school adolescent girls across the state.
The government said the initiative was designed to bring more girls back to school, stressing that every child deserved access to education regardless of their social or economic circumstances.
The programme specifically targets adolescent girls between the ages of 13 and 24, including out-of-school girls, vulnerable girls, girls living with disabilities, and those in rural and urban communities across Kogi State.
According to the State Project Coordinator of the Kogi AGILE Project, Alhaji Ahmed Tijani Oricha, the initiative seeks to help adolescent girls overcome the social, economic and cultural barriers that hinder their education and personal development.
While the intervention offers hope for girls who have been denied educational opportunities, the experiences of children like Kadiri underscore the need to address the economic difficulties confronting vulnerable households to ensure that more children can return to school and complete their education.