FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE STREET HAWKING ON ADOLESCENT GIRLS IN BAUCHI, TIRWUN

This research examined factors that influence street hawking on adolescent girls in Bauchi, Tirwun. The situation of street hawking by children in Bauchi is so terrible, that in almost every street, one will find children hawking, in the market place, in the motor parks, etc. selling items such as: groundnut, boiled egg, sachet water, and the boys pushing wheel barrows with items like sugarcane, water (cus-cus), and all sort of fruits and the involvement of children into such kind of activities can make them to be the victims of immediate hazards accident and rape etc. The researcher used survey design, employed quantitative techniques in which structured questions was used to collect information from the respondents. Random sampling technique was used to select 126 respondents out of the total population of Tirwun. Equally, simple percentage and frequency tables were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that socio-cultural values/religion, economic meltdown, single parenthood, inequality and migration from town to town to be the major causes of street hawking in Tirwun. Findings also revealed that street hawkers are expose to low self-esteem and low imagination, street hawkers are at risk of involvement in road traffic accident, kidnapping and ritual killings, youth involvement in street hawking exposes them to anti-social behaviors like smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, female street hawkers are at risk of sexual assault and the teenage pregnancy is one of the negative effects of street hawking especially among the female hawkers. Thus, the study recommended that the government at all levels should not only provide free basic education but also take practical steps to ensure that the education they give is truly and completely free, qualitative, and necessarily compulsory. Legislating and effecting punitive measures on education stakeholders that default will enhance success in this direction.