Urban crime in the Lagos traffic: An ethnography at the crossroads of multiple codes of ethics

What is it about?

Urban highways are, in my research, key sites for empirical understanding of some of the mechanisms of the reproduction of the urban social and economic inequalities that condition the use of violence by street gangs and cult boys in cities like Lagos. Hawking, which has served as an economic escape route for many poor households, unemployed youths and uneducated immigrants has now been used as an opportunity to perpetrate crimes, including pickpocketing and traffic robbery by street gangs.

Featured Image

Photo by René Ranisch on Unsplash

Photo by René Ranisch on Unsplash

Why is it important?

I challenge government’s reports and common beliefs that the itinerant traders are the major culprits of pickpocketing and violent crimes inside the Lagos traffic.