An Exploratory Evaluation of the Employment Role of Commercial Cart Pushing in Metropolitan Lagos

This paper is an evaluation of the employment role of Cart Pushing in Metropolitan Lagos and how it sustains the operators and by extension family members. Currently, Lagos accommodates 65% of industries in Nigeria, which account for the attraction of people from every part of Nigeria in search of jobs. The consequence could be daily observed in the ever growing number of unemployed people aimlessly roaming the streets of Lagos. The reality of not having a job by these migrants has stimulated so many innovations; one of such is the ever growing number of commercial cart pushers with various types and designs meant for different purposes. Data used for this paper was collected through the use of structured questionnaires administered on commercial cart pushers that operate within the Okokomaiko/Mile2 traffic corridor. The paper evaluated some of the factors that significantly influence the profit profile of operators through Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The paper has captured the various types of carts, their designs, volumes and the different wares they move and their modes of operations. The paper revealed the ethnic dimension of this business and observed that most of the operators are of northern extraction. The paper examined its contribution to the GDP of the state through payment of taxes and other levies. Finally the paper posits that improved management of this line of business could take the form of increased availability of carts through reinjection of profit into operations, improved finances through soft loans from the various micro finance banks.