“Oga, Settle Us”, The Agbero (touts or area boys) Tax on Lagos Hustle

There’s a particular kind of dread that comes over a Lagos content creator, motorist or delivery driver the moment they spot a cluster of able-bodied young men standing idle at a junction, a loading bay, or the street entrance. Before a word is exchanged, everyone already knows the script that money will change hands, and it won’t be optional.

There is a Lagos’s unofficial, unregulated toll system in Lagos State, also happening across Nigeria too, the Agbero’s economy, run by self-appointed “area boys or touts”, who have turned public spaces into private taxable territories. And painfully so, it isn’t just the commercial bus, bikes and truck drivers that are only footing this bill; the vlogger who sets up a tripod outside a popular bukka to record a skit content, is also part of the retinue paying the unofficial road-tax. By extension, other status of persons affected by this Agbero-(area boys or touts) taxation are, families who choose to use the general market space for their social party, with an outline of foodstuff for a party, pays; the small business owner offloading building materials for a client, pays; the film or music video crew in a mid-shoot, cameras rolling, cast in position, etc., they also pay. Anyone visibly using public space to earn a living or simply to live, becomes a target for these Agbero-(area boys or touts) to harass for the informal taxation.

How does this “tax” works? The pattern is depressingly consistent. A content creator arrives at a location to film an outdoor scene of market, beach, or popular eatery, would within some minutes be approached by some scuffle-looking young men, demanding “location fee” despite filming at a public road. A motorist offloading goods, furniture or any kind of goods, is always swarmed by loaders, who don’t get engaged to help, but will still demand payment for services they didn’t rendered. A driver simply passing through certain routes, is stopped and asked to “settle the boys”, with the implicit threat that refusal means a scratched car, a blocked path, or worse.