Child-Hustling in Ibadan Metropolis: A Cultural Worldview

Over the years, the unfavorable situation of children hustling hard under demeaning situations has triggered very serious deliberations among scholars, policy-makers, and human rights’ activists globally. The high rate of occurrence of child-hustlers over the years is a crucial factor in explaining child-neglect in form of child-labour and child-abuse. Studies on children protection had focused on child-labour or street-children as a whole. However, little attention has been given to hustling among children. Hence, this study examines a cultural worldview of child-hustlers in Ibadan Metropolis, Oyo state. Cross-sessional research-design is adopted and a multi-stage sampling technique was used to elicit primary data from six major commercial centres in Ibadan Metropolis, Oyo State. A semi-structured Questionnaire Schedule (QS) was administered to 300 respondents. Data were collected on socio-demographic profile and cultural world-view of child-hustling. The data generated were analyzed with the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20. On the cultural world-view of child-hustling, majority of the respondents viewed hustling as a means of livelihood. Child hustling has negatively affected the development of children and had compromised the achievement of societal development globally. There is need for effective reorientation, sensitization, and strict enforcement of policies that could help in the protection of child’s rights, most especially in the urban centres by both the Government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).