Whenever one takes the road out of the Nigerian capital city of Abuja en route to the South of the country, one cannot but help notice the large number of thatched roof sheds along the highway, some 50 km outside the city gate. Under these sheds are villagers, mostly women, selling fresh produce like tomatoes, yam tubers, potatoes, onions and peppers. Their prices are low - very low compared to what obtains in the city of Abuja - and one often gets good bargains. The sellers of these crops are generally very poor and to them, the highway opens up a unique market, one in which they could sell their produce for a price more attractive than what any of their fellow villagers would be willing to part with.

Like all other people in the world, these traders need money to send their children to school, to pay hospital bills, to travel to see family and friends and of course to save for the future. The amount of effort they put in doesn't seem commensurate with the amount of cash they make each day. Thus, they work long hours – sometimes from sunrise till sunset, transporting their crops early in the day, and waiting and hoping that a good number of motorists would stop and buy. Interestingly, because these traders do not exist – officially that is, they aren't taxed. They belong to the informal sector of the Nigerian economy, a sector that caters to millions of Nigerians.

To these petty roadside traders, capitalism and the litany of terms it comes with like free market reforms and economic deregulation make little sense. Rather than hearing a government preach about the privatization of educational institutions, they would rather their kids got free education at the primary and secondary level. And talk of Nigeria's foreign reserve at $27 billion (or about $200 for each Nigerian) makes no sense to them if they cannot get electricity and portable drinking water in their houses. These points are being raised because in present day Nigeria, government policy seems focused primarily on reforms, privatization and deregulation.

Furthermore, the proponents of economic reforms seem to be those with sufficient cash, assets and investments to buy up or invest in public companies and utilities when these eventually become privatized. The have-nots on the other hand, seem to prefer a less capitalistic approach to reforms. They would like to see a 'more Western European and less American approach', by which I mean one in which government is directly involved in the welfare of its citizens, and especially the poor. Unfortunately, Nigeria is a poor country and its government, unlike those of Western European nations, doesn't make enough money to be able to provide welfare packages to its citizens. With an income per capita of about $400 why would one need to look further to understand the plight of the roadside petty traders?

The roadside trade will go on till the traders are able to afford enough money to pay for sheds in the nearby local markets where they would have access to much larger number of buyers. Till then, their strenuous and repetitive routine would go on and on. With very basic or no education, few of these traders ever dream of entering the formal sector of the economy or diversifying their trading activities. One positive note however is that their kids, who in all likelihood will be better educated than they were, will stand better chances of empowering themselves and improving their standard of living. Development does come eh, albeit very slowly.

Labels: General, Nigeria