Yam man? Yeah, man!

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This is a very common sight in Lagos -- a young man pushing a wheelbarrow of yams down the road. Where are you going, yam pusher? How heavy is that? And isn't there an easier way to get those yams from point A to point B, like with a truck? I never wanted to interrupt a hard-toiling yam pusher with such silly questions, but yesterday I solved the puzzle with the help of Said, a yam seller from Kano state.
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The yam pushers are coming from the Mile 12 wholesale market, which is a long way away from Ikeja, where I met Said yesterday. Each seller has a particular route of houses and compounds he goes to, selling the yams door-to-door. This makes sense: yams are so heavy that most women would not want to carry them home from market. Why not get a pick-up truck? As far as I could tell, so long as there are enough guys like Said willing to push yams for a few bucks a day, the economics of getting a truck just don't make sense.

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BTW, I wouldn't categorize the yam pushers as "street vendors" since they are not exactly transacting their business in public, but they are not far off. Certainly the yam sellers are an important part of the informal economy (and food delivery system) of Lagos.
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