6. Street Hawking by Young Girls in Kano: New Risks and Challenges

Bala Saleh Dawakin Tofa

In contemporary times, children—especially the girl-child—have been at the center of research and debate worldwide. This chapter seeks to explore the issue of girl-child hawking in the metropolitan city of Kano. Hawking is a viable source of income in this city and unfortunately, a large number of hawkers are females under the age of seventeen. Thus, this paper is an investigation into the risks and challenges that the girl-child hawker faces in present-day Kano, Nigeria.

Hawking and the Girl-Child in Kano

The indigenous peoples of Kano state are predominantly Muslims. Kano is one of the important states in Hausa-land in particular and in the old Sudan in general (Naniya, 2000). The history of Kano may be divided into five periods: The early period, deals with the founding of the city and the rule established by Bagauda up to 1500 AD; the second period covers the reign of Muhammad Rumfa up to that of Muhammadu Nazaki; the third period is that of Kutumbawa (beginning from Alwali the Great to 1806); the fourth period is that of Jahadists (1807-1903), and the fifth period starts from the British colonial period to the present (Zahraddeen, 1993).

A girl-child hawker in Kano metropolis is hereby defined as any female girl who is aged between 6-17 years, who is a victim of the practice initiated by her parents/care givers, patronized and exploited by some members of the public, and scorned by policy makers. She is a subject of study by researchers, opinion leaders, and some non-governmental organizations. A girl child hawker, however defined, is caught in the middle; she is perpetually suffering, is seen on daily basis roaming the streets selling all sorts of wares, some of them spend time selling wares and return home. To many of them, it is a whole day’s business roaming about from place to place on foot, denied the opportunity of good and sound education, adequate leisure, exploited, extorted, tired and exhausted. For some of them and their desperate parents/caregivers, hawking starts in the morning with a particular ware for sale, continues in the afternoon, and stops only at night after alternating the wares to be sold. This category of hawkers, talla degree (graduates in hawking), do not have any formal schooling or any other form of education. This practice has, in recent times, raised other concerns on the allegation that some of them engage in sexual relationships, which threatens their life due to the possibility of contracting sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancies.

According to the 2006 Federal census, Kano state has an estimated population of 9,383,682 million people, with three million people resident in the metropolis. By these figures, Kano state is now the most populous state in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and a society where polygamy is widely practiced. The extended family system, multiple wives, and traditional and customary practices force some families into hardship, resorting to begging or hawking to survive. Ogunlade (1990, p. PAGE) argues:

If hawking is a way which [sic] they (families) can survive, which the children can do, they will do it. That is why it has not been very easy to stop hawkers, because those who hawk are the children of the very poor people.

According to a statement by Child Welfare League of Nigeria (CWLN):

The law itself, particularly the Child and Young Persons Law of 1964, contradicts the plight of children in areas of child labor and street trading, a phenomenon that continues to have a devastating and retrogressive effect on the society education and the welfare of children. Rather than staying at home and compounding the problem of their parents, children, particularly girls, are withdrawn from school into early marriages and into extensive child labor (child trading and the likes) that, sexual and physical abuse of children, notably young girls has became the norm in our troubled society. It is no longer news having fathers or guardians sexually molesting their wards. Many are raped daily and are lost in their own worlds as there is no place to seek for protection. (Child Welfare League of Nigeria, 1999)

Fostering (Riko) in Hausa society is a challenge to the Hausa girl-child hawker and is commonly referred to in sociological parlance as the rearing of children by people other than their parents. Because fostering in Hausa society is so simple, significant numbers of the girl-child hawkers are foster-children. There are implications for this: if a girl-child hawker is fostered and lives in a poor, extended family, hawking is a necessity; selling everything by the girl-child becomes a necessity, too, and exposure to sexual abuses are eminent. Goddy (1975) contends that the tradition of fostering or rearing of children by close or distant relations, as found in many African societies, has a double effect on the child. The foster parents may develop some sort of laxity in the upbringing of the child, which may make the child emotionally imbalanced and socially maladjusted, or the foster parents may become too rigid to the fostered child. Either way, a fostered girl-child in Kano metropolis is in jeopardy until she is brought up in a non-hawking household.

In the case of child hawking, The Children and Young Persons Ordinance 1946, 1958, (section 28, 32), and 1999 forbids the employment of children in the street trading; Chapter two, section 17 (3)(f) of the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1990 states; “that children young persons and the aged are protected against exploitation whatsoever and against moral and material neglect.”  Chapter 17, section 213 of the Sharifah penal code states “whosoever having the charge or care of a child under the age of fifteen years of being in a position of authority under him willfully ill-treats or neglects him in such a way as to cause him unnecessary suffering shall be punished.” Section 212 states that “such a person shall be punished with imprisonment for a term and shall be liable to canning which may extend to forty lashes.”

Ahmed et al (2004) argues that, regarding the right of Muslim women in Northern Nigeria, no reliable data exists on prevalent practices…[or the] extent of wide spread hawking…Multiple factors pose new risks and challenges for girl-child street hawking; not only in Kano, but also in the whole of Northern Nigeria and the country as a whole.

Traditional, cultural, economic, social, and Islamic factors come into play for the girl-child in traditional Northern Nigeria and especially Kano, a volatile city with distinct peculiarities. In their report, Ahmad et al. (2004) found that, literature on Northern Nigeria has documented the relevance of daughters in the early and middle stage of a Muslim woman’s life. A daughter is so vital in the life of the woman that a woman without a girl-child would foster the daughter of a relative. This practice certainly is a risk to any unfortunate fostered girl-child, who has to hawk in her life time in Kano metropolis, coupled with the fact that a woman depends on her daughter to relieve her of domestic work and, in the process, the child must learn her gender roles. The woman is also often dependent on her daughter (biological or fostered) for her income generation. In most cases, the girl child buys raw material from the market and takes part in the processing or production as well as in the selling of finished goods (Callaway, 1987; Schildrant, YEAR). The demands of marriage and expectations about it are crucial in promoting girl-child hawking, despite the associated risks. In most cases, the reasons for hawking are required culturally.

According to Women’s Right Advancement and Protection Agency (WRAPA) (2001), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), female children, as a sub-group of children, are the most vulnerable because they suffer a wide range of deep-rooted discriminatory practices. As for gender differences, although boys and girls tend to be found on the streets, Oloko (1989) found that in street trading girls predominate. According to the findings of WRAPA, the consequences of hawking by the girl-children include widespread unprotected sexual relationships.

The second type of literature according to the report is sociological. The sociological literature is still subdivided into academic and development/project related literature. The academic literature discusses the theoretical and empirical analysis of the condition of the girl-child, thereby arousing the interest of policy makers and activists.

In their studies of girl rearing practices in Northern Nigeria, Hake (1972) in Ahmed et al. (2004) identifies certain factors that influence childcare practices in the North, Kano inclusive. These factors include the extended family system and related polygamy, where the present wives may raise children from a man’s previous marriage, the socio-economic position of the family, the educational level of parents, the income level, and the geographical location are all important factors in determining the condition of a child in Hausa society.

The reality of new risks and challenges to a girl-child in Kano is buttressed by the prevalence of the practice of hawking in both rural and urban areas of the Muslim North. Hawking in Kano is taking new dimensions; the state is declared a Shari’ah compliant state. Moslem scholars are given priority and thus begging has increased at an incredibly rate. Meanwhile, the government is advocating a program to discourage hawking as political tactic.

Another challenge to the girl-child in Kano is in the area of abuse and violence. This takes place in the home and outside the home. The practice is more common among fostered children in the hands of their foster parents. This could be in the form of mental or psychological abuse, sexual exploitation, excessive beating, and favoritism or preferential treatment against the child. Two categories of girls that are mostly affected: children of broken marriages and the child of a non-favorite wife. This crime is perpetrated by co-wives, step-mothers, or the father himself. For those who hawk, the challenge now is more on competition and possible multiple sexual abuses and mental stress, as the number of girl-child hawkers in Kano Metropolis are on the increase, with many coming from other Local Governments.

For his part, Schildrout (1978, p. 34, quoted by Dyorough 2004, p. 2) associates the likelihood of finding girls who hawk with the economic status of their parents. He says,

…children’s roles are to some extent dependent upon the economic status of their parents. However, not all girls engage in street trading, for this depends upon the attitude of parents, their income, and sometimes on their inclination towards the child.

Historically, the pressure on children on the streets around the world is not new. Platt (1969) notes:

In the 1850s, as their numbers increased with the influx of German and Irish immigrants to New York City, local authorities became alarmed. Indeed, one recent study suggests that mid Nineteenth century reformers considered the presence of poor children in New York’s streets as a key element of the problem of urban poverty. Children’s street life was held as an irrefutable evidence of parental neglect and a pathological low class family environment that initiated children into lives of misery and crime.

By 1910, Child Savers (An American based Non-Governmental Organization) launched a new, national campaign in Chicago to offer a supervised, educational alternative to the moral hazards of street life. As a matter of ideological concern, Child Savers was established in 1969 to defend the importance of the home, family life, and parental supervision, being the institutions that traditionally give purpose to a woman’s life.

In Kano, girl-child hawking is a cultural requirement which most poor families indulge in for a number of years. It was, therefore, not considered a problem in any way. But, with the tremendous development of the city, highly volatile “city things” are no longer taken for granted and girl-child hawking has and continues to generate negative reactions from members of the middle class of the society, who have contributed to the problem and do not want to see the problem as having reached a crisis situation.

There is literature on girl-street hawkers that reflect their various localities. For instance, most writers on girl street hawkers from the Southern or Christian dominated states of Nigeria would argue that the money realized from the street hawking are used mainly for sponsoring a girl-child’s education by their less privileged parents (Adesuwa, 1998; Aderinto, 2000). In the North, it is mostly considered to be used not only as a coping strategy for the family involved but also as primarily a source of dowry for a young housewife to be.

For instance, according to a pilot report Umar et al (2005) it is not easy to eliminate hawking because economic, social, attitudinal, and cultural factors are associated with girl-child hawking. However, according to one government’s spokesman on a television Program on 6th September, 2006, the Fansar Yar Talla has redeemed seventy girl-children by empowering their parents economically and enrolling the girls into primary schools. Similarly, Yakasai Zumunta, an NGO was equally disturbed by the menace and the dangers posed by girl-child street hawking, that it rehabilitated 42 young street hawkers by putting them off the streets and provided them with basic primary education. Yet, as commendable as this is, it is in no way enough to tackling the real situation in the state. In fact, such efforts are very negligible in relation to the many thousands of girl-child street hawkers; much more needs to be done. In fact, the same problems that bedeviled the 1992 ten-man sociolegal committee popularly called the Yadudu committee can be said to face the 2005 Fansar Yar Talla program. These are problems of official corruption, suspicion, lack of confidence, and insincere political will to handle the problem squarely as the empirical study has shown. For now, one can say that, at best, the Fansar Yar Talla has performed in essence its rituals. Nevertheless, the risks and challenges are still as they were. Nothing has changed.

Methodology and Historical Background of the Study Area

Metropolitan Kano today consists of eight Local Government Areas instead of the former six, namely, Municipal, Gwale, Tarauni, Fagge, Nassarawa, Dala, Ungogo and Kumbotso. The main Kano town developed around Dutsen is Dala (Dala Hill), which has been the center of its political power before the dynasty of Bayajidda. Its history covers over 1000 years. It served as a capital of Hausa Kingdom in the 16th century, with Hausa and Fulani as the predominant ethnic groups (Siro, 2006, p. 29).

Table 1 represents the census tract figures of 2006 of the eight Local Governments that now form Kano metropolis.

Source: Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette (2006)

In all, a sample of 300 people, selected from the following clusters within the Local Governments, were identified for the study:

• • Dala
    • Kwanar Goda junction
    • Garejin Dan Buzu
  • Fagge
    • camp quarters
    • Kwari market
  • Gwale
    • Kabuga junction (mini market),
    • Kabuga junction to F.C.E. junction
  • Kumbotso
    • Yar Kasuwar Sheka
    • Shagari quarters
  • Municipal
    • Wajila (mini market) junction
    • Rimi market to hospital junction
  • Nassarawa
    • Gwagwarwa junction
    • Hospital road (G.R.A) to Audu Bako way
  • Tarauni
    • Kasuwar Tarauni
    • Kundila Maiduguri road
  • Ungogo
    • Bachirawa bakin titi mini mart
    • Ungogo junction

In this chapter however, only data derived from the Gwale Local Government is used. Relying largely on the pilot interviews conducted with two mobile girl-child hawkers and two stationary girl-child hawkers as primary sources of data. 

Target Population

According to Babbie (2002), the population for a study is that group (usually of people) about whom you want to draw conclusions. There are four broad categories of girl-child hawkers, these include: group mobile girl-children hawkers, individual mobile girl-children hawkers, group stationary girl-children hawkers, and solo or individual stationary girl-children hawkers. We thus select a sample from among the data that might be collected and studied. The population of this study consists of the following groups: mobile girl-child hawkers, and stationary girl-child hawkers. The first group (group mobile girl-child hawkers), are divided into two groups; a group of mobile girl-child hawkers within the age bracket of 6-10 years, and individual/solo mobile girl-child hawkers within the age bracket of 11-17years old. The second group to be studied includes stationary girl-child hawkers, who are also divided into two groups; a group of stationary girl-child hawkers within the age bracket of 6-10 years, and solo or individual stationed girl-children hawkers within the age bracket of 11-17years old.

In a pilot study in Gwale Local Government (L.G.), two mobile girl-child hawkers within of the age bracket of 11-17 years old were interviewed, and another two stationary girl-child hawkers within the age bracket of 6-10years old were interviewed. Both interviews were tape-recorded and were conducted in Hausa language. When asked whether she enjoys hawking or not, Nana Nura, who was eleven (11years) old and a stationary girl-child hawker, said she was indifferent. Nana was quite intelligent and was a junior secondary school student who wrote very well. She hopes to go to university. Nana alternates various wares for sale. For the other stationary girl-child hawker, Safiya Adamu of the age bracket of 11-17, was busy selling cooked foods and, on a frequent basis, was attending to boyfriends. Her boyfriends buy the food and give out the food to beggars around. When asked who gives her cooked food to sell, she says “My mom of course.” When asked if she is interested in furthering her education, Safiya says, “I prefer to be married.”

Neither of the two interviewed mobile girl-child hawkers, both within the age bracket of 11-17years old, A’isha and Jimmai, were so forthcoming in the interview. Later they agreed to a very short interview. Neither attend formal schools but claim to attend Islamiyya School at night. When asked who gave them wares to sell, they answered that it was their mothers. When asked whether they were ever confronted sexually they did not respond. On what they do with the profit, Aisha replied “I give to my mom.” They were all asked whether they would leave hawking for some vocational training, but only Nana was interested. Jimmai refused to comment on any question but agreed to listen to other interviews. The analysis of the interview shows that 12% of the interviewed girl-child hawkers in one Local Government indicated poverty as the major cause for hawking.

Conclusion

It is common knowledge that children across the world are neglected, abused, and denied many of their privileges and rights. This is also the case in Kano state, which is ranked first in terms of human population in a country that has the world’s most populous black concentration and, thus, is really a cause for concern. Despite girl-child street hawking, many of them do get married and raise children themselves. Therefore, the new risks have more to do with sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV or AIDS, which could endanger many members of society. As for the challenges, some girl-child hawkers are able to escape from the stranglehold of poverty through the proliferation of Hausa home movies, making some of them celebrities. There are a few of them, like Nana, who, if given the opportunity, could make it through formal education. But, to many of them the opportunities are simply not available.

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