INFORMAL ECONOMY OPERATORS AND THE CHALLENGES OF GROWTH IN OYO KINGDOM, NIGERIA.

The informal economy is essential for economic growth and development. It provides employment for people who could not gain employment in the formal sector or serves as a financial cushion to those whose take home pay cannot cater completely for their basic needs. This paper focused on the operations of informal economy in Oyo Kingdom with aim of examining its prevalent typologies, assessing their characteristics and challenges. A total of Ten (10) Informal Economy Operators (IEOs) were identified and from which thirty (30) respondents were drawn. Specifically, ten (10) executive members of affiliated association were purposively selected for key informant interviews and twenty members were selected for In-depth interviews. Data were analysed using content analysis and ethnographic summaries. However, the study identified various types of IEOs. It was discovered that were some IEOs that were either gender or age dominated or both. Also, IEOs were characterized by communal effort in order to cost prices of products. Low patronage was recorded as the major challenge of IEOs which resulted from frequent migration of young people to other cities for livelihood due to slight industrial development in the area