The young boy comes back from the community high school in his area, and on getting home, he changes into his play clothes, on his way to play , doesn't bother to read as there is nothing to read because he has only one book for 5 subjects and he can barely hear the teacher's instruction in a class of 105.

So he sets out to play, but his mama calls him back, orders him to go carry his "tray". His mood changes, and he feels tired already but without question, he goes in to carry his "tray".

His mother fills his tray with wares which he supposed to sell in the streets and in traffic.

So the little boy of 10 sets out with his tray.

He is seen in the traffic with the same play clothes he planned on using to have fun with his friends some minutes ago.

The boy runs back and forth as he is called by people stuck in traffic.

After running for minutes, his little legs are tired because of the multi-task that has been assigned on it's young growth at that stage.

The boy hears somebody whistle, he sharpely looks in the direction but his attention was not needed.

Still he stands in the traffic, calling out to people to buy his product, and suprisingly nobody hears the little voice , for the voice of the boy for the onlookers stuck in traffic was no different from the voices of other bigger hustlers/hawkers marketing their wares.

The boy continues to stand, he had been moving for hours, so he stands with one hand he holds his wares, with another he stands akimbo, for he could not sit as he was to sell everything in his "tray" before he left for home.

Still he waited, and once again, he is called by someone in a fine car in traffic, who does not spare him a second look, just buys his product, then moves on with the now-moving traffic.

It is already evening and the boy still waits with his tray with the hope of selling his goods, and then he is called again, the tempo of traffic was reducing as it was moving rather steadily.

He sells to the man in the bus, he gives the man the change and the product but before he could collect his money, the driver of the bus the man was in had seen an opening in the traffic, so he took the opportunity and sped off.

The boy was stunned at first, then the tears begins to trickle down his face, the one question that harped on his mind was, What was he going to tell his mother?

What were they going to eat?

Hello, ladies and gents, I hope you enjoyed the story and now to the issue of child hawking which until now has continued to be almost a part of our everyday life in Nigeria.

We see these little children within the age of 4- 14 everyday on the road , on our way to work, to parties, in the traffic jam etc selling all sorts of things not fearing the hazards that is connected with being on such roads and even with nobody to tell them.

If somebody told them, will they listen?

No , because for these children, their hawking is a means of survival for them and their families.

For them, that hawking was a job just like the ones you and I have, but theirs is far more competitive and life threatening with little or no benefits (not to talk of added benefits).

Child hawking is an indicator of one thing, "There is poverty in the land" and there is nothing being done about it.

We have heard and see different NGos come up but these organisations are a bunch of gold digging, fame -seeking, cheating scums who only seek to be known by government and the people but meanwhile they have done nothing other than bear a name.

While those who alledged that they have done something, do so in the confines of their rich environment.

There are only few, who seek to take these children off the road, and as much as they try they cannot completely eradicate this situation as they constrained by many factors.

So the question is how do we end poverty in our lands?

How do we stop Child-hawking?

On a final note, this is my comment on what should be done;

The government should institue a ministry to take charge of these situations across the different states in Nigeria with the help of ministries in each of the state.

A monthly/weekly report should be submitted every week to know how much job has been done.

Before that, there should be a full investigation on the issue , from which a report on how the job of eradicating the menance will be formed.

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