Area Boys are disrupting businesses in Lagos
Area Boys are disrupting businesses in Lagos Street miscreants in Lagos, popularly referred to as ‘Area Boys’ in local parlance, have been making it difficult to do business or live peacefully in the country’s commercial capital. Often found belching cheap alcohol and reeking of weed in most street corners and bus stops, Area Boys stop your mechanic from fixing your car at the scene of a breakdown unless you part with money, demand fees from bike hailing services and prevent construction work from taking off unless they are appeased. The story has been told of how an oil company in Lagos had to abandon the road it was going to fix after Area Boys stood in its way and threatened the lives of construction workers. In Ojuelegba this week, Area Boys forcibly demanded cash from motorbikes on the books of ride hailing businesses, just as they do to local bike operators (Okada). Across Lagos, Area Boys have been known to besiege locations of masts put up by telecom operators to demand for money, sometimes stopping company trucks from driving through streets until their palms have been greased. Bus drivers have also had their side mirrors, door knobs and spare tyres yanked off in motion by bloodshot-eyed Area Boys. At night time, some Area Boys transform into robbers who grab phones and smash cars of Lagosians. What was your last Area Boy encounter like?
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.ng