Folks in the diaspora might not fully understand this post, but with the increasing number of area boys on our street, life in Lagos (I stay in Lagos) is getting pretty terrible.

My home to my office is about 15 minutes on a bike, but I spend close to 30 minutes to get a bike that will take me there. Why?
"Oga, i no fit go there because of those touts". Life is now unbearable. these boys will not hesitate to flog anybody - male, female, young, old - who interferes with their fund collections. And are they legal? [B]NO[/B]

I wonder what we can do about this menace that has infected our society.

If we can get good jobs for those boys, then they can be taken off the streets and rehabilitated. You don't take awayu the income of people like that without giving them alternatives. At least, what they do is still better than armed robbery, which is what more of them will go into if they are forced off the streets without alternatives given.

Maybe the Area Boys should be registered and organized by the government into a respected body to aid commercial drivers and collect revenue. That would be better than forcing them into a life of more violent crime. What do you think?

I believe the government should have put in place rehabilitation programs, and I also believe many of these boys are not ready to work.

sorry african boy, bariga, i guess datz where u live is in yaba and yaba is hmmmmm full of dem, itz terrible and i hope it stops

Can agbero be eradicated?

back in 1999, marwa had practically readicated them.tinubu brought them back.for all practical purposes, as fa as i'm concerned area boys ARE armed robbers, using force of numbers to deprive honest nigerians of teir hard earned money.rehabilitation? not likely.just make it HARD for area boys and they will disappear. if no one stops them, they will only get worse, like an untreated disease.they will soon harassing private motorists.what am i saying-they already do .if your car breaks downin some parts of lagos, you have 2 settle b4 u can fix your car.

Simple, These people are obviously not ready for obs so the only alternative is to train them into a secret police gang who would rid Lagos and the world of Area boys!!!

How about the govt rehabilitate them by training them in areas such as construction, recycling etc. They help us develop the state and its a win-win for all parties invloved. And if they refuse because they don't want to work, you build a big prison for them where they can be forced to work. Simple!

Also make them do sanitation engineering and management!!!

give them jobs? yeah right!

and what would be the motivation for them?? more money than they receive now

i have a personal experience: i and a couple of friends (my girlfriend included) started a sort of NGO (actually a project) which we named the "Street Life Project". The project has the aim of taking kids off the streets and place them where they belong - home, school or proper work.

We have 1 success story so far, Taiye Ganiyu Afolabi, whom we saw as a bus conductor and helped located his people. He spent about 2 weeks with us, during which we had to feed him and virtually clothe him. Many times, he had strong urges to go back to the garage (where he could get up N1000 per day, whereas we could only give him a maximum of N300). The only motivation for him to stay was the fact that we promised to help him get back to school. We are currently working on an adult school for him, but his people have been stubborn (they want him to learn a trade).

Well, the government should intervene by giving social benefits.

now d govt should give our money to people who take it by force

What do you mean our money!!! Most Nigerians don't pay taxes. Better this money go to the community purse than an offshore or swiss bank account!!

africanboy:

Why in the name of the most high gods must you want to "rehabilitate" a conductor doing a honest day's work?
You know who needs to be rehabilitated? Clueless do-gooders like you.

Conductors and area boys are not the same. Area boys exort money while conductors collect money legitimately.
If a boy is able to make 1000 naira per day doing what he knows, why the hell must you deprive him of his job?

I have no problem with conductors being given additional training, but you need to respect the job they do.
Afterall their work for the benefit of people like you and me who take public transport. How can that be bad?

Gah.

The project has the aim of taking kids off the streets and place them where they belong - home, school or proper work.

he is not taking adult conductors off their work, he is taking kids that are more vulnerable to abuse off the streets

Even if it were adults, these sort of public tranport services will be banned in Lagos in the near future and where will all the conductors go??

New transport scheme can always re-train them as ticket inspectors, bus conductors and terminal operatives.

Bus conductor what do they do??

what do you mean? conductors get levels just in case you dont know

_{remember the old Bus 11 and Bus 12 with an open back?
they had bus conductors but ticket inspectors still come in to check tickets, since the new buses in lagos would have advance tickets and on the bus tickets; the conductors sell the tickets on the bus and inspectors can come in to check tickets all together}

Even if it were adults, these sort of public tranport services will be banned in Lagos in the near future and where will all the conductors go??

They'll go to the bedroom of the idiot that banned them and repay him appropriately.

Why in the name of the most high gods must you want to "rehabilitate" a conductor doing a honest day's work?

a boy between the ages of 10 - 16 is doing a honest day's work. would you allow your younger brother to do a honest day's work

You know who needs to be rehabilitated? Clueless do-gooders like you.

now that's just being rude

Conductors and area boys are not the same. Area boys exort money while conductors collect money legitimately.
If a boy is able to make 1000 naira per day doing what he knows, why the hell must you deprive him of his job?

wow, the guy's brilliant, but wait, this boy is underage. he ran away from home because he was being maltreated

I have no problem with conductors being given additional training, but you need to respect the job they do.
Afterall their work for the benefit of people like you and me who take public transport. How can that be bad?

Gah.

should i comment? NO!

A STREET-URCHIN is NOT a honorable profession.

Then again, WHERE are the Jobs?

What do you expect young men to do?

sit around and twiddle their thumbs - and act appropriately while they are starving?

****************

ITS THE GOVERNMENT!!!

actually, it is too many people in your country. Countries that thrive are countries with LESS people to fill their jobs than countries with TOO MANY people.

Nigeria needs to practice Child prevention. Because more and more kids will end up like Area boys.

Who wants to have a badarse good for nothing kid?

Hmm, seems a tradition to revive this thread every February, bar 2008. . .

I know the area boys are a menace, and a lot of them were bus conductors in the past.
I think the "conductor" tag is a very loosely used one, it means different things to different people.

But, as someone said, "conductors" and "zagberos" are not to be confused with the other.

Touts operate in different areas in Nigeria - garages, embassys, markets, hospitals, driver agencies etc.
In fact, anywhere a service is required, legitimate or otherwise, touts will exist.

Untill there's an alternative, they always will.

Interesting. The February revival, that is.

Hello everybody!

has anyone seen "Area Boys" the film?

i saw some stuff and it looks good.

Maybe we should start killing them, lol

Dammy_ray:

Maybe we should start killing them, lol

funny,