Area boys (also known as Agberos)[1] are loosely organized gangs of street children and teenagers, composed mostly of males, who roam the streets of Lagos, Lagos State in Nigeria.[2] They extort money from passers-by, public transporters and traders, sell illegal drugs, act as informal security guards, and perform other "odd jobs" in return for compensation.[3][4]

DemographicsEdit

Area boys have existed in the city of Lagos since the early 1980s. However, under various names, types of Area Boys have been traced back to the 1920s.[5] In 2007, the total number of area boys in Lagos was estimated at over 35,000 by a member of the Lagos State Judiciary;[6] as of 1996, the number of them operating on Lagos Island alone was placed around 1,000.[4] A 1996 study of area boys on Lagos Island by Abubakar Momoh showed that only 26.4% of area boys were from Lagos State, while the rest were natives of Ogun State (22.6%), Kwara State (14.2%), and Oyo State (14.1%), amongst other states. Most were between twelve and thirty-five years old.[7]

Asked whether they were "proud" to be area boys, 18% of respondents said yes, while 75% said no (7% did not respond).[8]

Tactics and targetsEdit

A United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) 2001 report on Nigeria described the impact of the gang members as such:[9]

The coercive and persuasive requests, petty crimes and sometimes violent offences by the so-called "area boys" to acquire resources, generally cash in the urban main business and crowded areas, have disturbed the civil society and defied the civic authority. Drug abuse among them has been variously reported as the cause of delinquent behaviour and crime.

ExtortionEdit

One of the methods the groups use for extortion is to surround pedestrians, drivers, and passengers in vehicles, which are stuck in traffic, and force them to pay (for some actual or pretended service) before letting them go.[3] To aid in collecting money during traffic jams, the area boys place nails in the road and dig up the streets. When the streets are flooded, however, they also aid motorists in avoiding ditches and pot holes amidst other services .[10]

According to Momoh, much of the extortion from Igbo merchants by area boys is instigated by Lagos landlords, indigenous inhabitants of the city.[11]

Illegal drug saleEdit

Among the area boys are both sellers and users of illegal drugs; this drug use has been fingered as the cause of further crime.[9]Momoh states "most of them use drugs (cocaine, heroine, marijuana, etc.) either as occasional users or addicts, or as peddlers." (Of 77 respondents to Momoh's survey, 12.2% dealt drugs, while 60.3% were addicts themselves.) Sale of drugs takes place both in Nigeria and abroad, and sales abroad have earned a small percentage of the sellers significant amounts of money.[12]

Groups of area boys have been known to raid rival, Igbo drug sellers based in Central Lagos.[12]

Area boys elsewhere in NigeriaEdit

Petty criminals have been labeled as "area boys" in Ibadan, where they control informal markets[15] and are used to advance political causes.[16]

In the Yankari National Park in Bauchi State, baboons have been referred to as "area boys" because of their troublesome behavior.[17]

They were cited as a nuisance by the Director of Communications at Airtel in August 2012 because they demanded money to load diesel at the company's Base Transceiver Stations.[18]




https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_boys



Now this is a big disgrace to Nigeria and would be investors ! How can Nigeria attract the much needed investors when if I type Lagos Area and this is likely to pop up. We must clean our acts .... Wikipedia must out this down !

Area boys are also known as Agbero but they are different.

Area boys are mostly urchins, Agberos are garage workers (also called motor boys) or employees of the road transport unions (NURTW Aand RTEAN) and it is a legal job which they earn a legitimate living from.

An area boy can be anyone, a student heck even a worker who just decides to constitute himself as a nuisance.

That said, an Agbero can be an Area boy

Mynd44:
Area boys are also known as Agbero but they are different.

Area boys are mostly urchins, Agberos are garage workers (also called motor boys) or employees of the road transport unions (NURTW Aand RTEAN) and it is a legal job which they earn a legitimate living from.

An area boy can be anyone, a student heck even a worker who just decides to constitute himself as a nuisance.

That said, an Agbero can be an Area boy

Maybe Wikipedia need to take note of this