Poverty, Road Culture and Deviance among Areaboys in Lagos Central Neighbourhood

The role and importance of poverty within the youth subculture (‘road’ life) of young areaboys growing up in Lagos Central Neighbourhood cannot be overemphasised. This research explores how the notion of poverty particularly influences touts attitudes, values, behaviour and lifestyle; the way in which the majority of young touts involved with road life, look to appropriate and flirt with certain aspects of deviance for reasons to do with survival, ‘money-making’, and aesthetics (style and fashion). This paper is based upon a much larger ethnographic study undertaken in Lagos State transportation corridors (Surulere and Lagos Island Local government areas), it adopts and integrates the concepts of ‘drift’ (Matza, 1964), ‘code of the street’ (Anderson, 1999), and the ‘seductions of crime’ (Katz, 1988) in the analysis and discussion of the findings. Empirical data was gleaned via participant observation supplemented by semi-structured interviews among a cross section of 120 respondents. This study revealed that touts are filling a gap in service along the transportation corridors and the touting vocation is more attractive to migrant-unemployed and unskilled youths. This is more so for individuals with difficult childhood, resulting from familial, psychological and socioeconomic challenges. It is therefore recommended that government and organised private sector should prioritise and intensify skill acquisition programmes; job creation and reformation of neighbourhoods along transportation corridors to reduce the image problems in the heart of Lagos state.