ABSTRACT
LAGOS is the principal port of Nigeria, and the slum clearance area lies at the heart of its commercial life, between the two main streets of shops. The neighbourhood is surrounded by the largest markets in cloth, vegetables, meat and poultry, enamel and earthenware, herbs, fancy goods and fruit; and is within a few minutes walk of the great importing houses. Much of the working population of Lagos passes every day by its narrow lanes. The people of the neighbourhood earn their living from the commerce of the city. Most of the men are traders, importers and exporters, shop keepers, dockers and market porters; drivers, watchmen, clerks or mechanics for the foreign firms, or craftsmen who often deal in goods on the side— bicycle repairers selling second-hand machines and tyres, spray painters selling paint, blacksmiths buying up used tins and making them into cheap oil-lamps. The women nearly all trade.
