An Explorative Study of the Contribution of the Informal Sector to Economic Activities in Lagos, Nigeria

The informal sector plays a vital role in providing employment for the teeming unemployed in Nigeria. Therefore, this study is a critical appraisal of the pros and cons of street trading and shows that with proper regulation and control; within the parameters of freedom to economic opportunity and success, street trading could be a positive though not a core force in the socio-economic transformation and development of poorer urban communities. The study is a descriptive one that shows that the impracticality and vague regulations need not prevent street traders from exercising their innovativeness. This represents a challenge to the view that prosperity can be attained only by promoting large-scale public and private economic enterprises and suggests the need to provide everybody with the latitude to contribute their own share; however meager individual contributions and accomplishments may appear. The major findings revealed that street trading is one of the ways of providing employment and generating a source of livelihood for the unemployed. Hence, the Federal Government of Nigeria should encourage the emergence of micro businesses by providing loans to their operators