Children form a substantial proportion of the population of most African countries but, there exist a significant deficiency in the schooling systems of most countries which is characterized by a general lack of provision of child care, leading to child abuse. This study examined the determinants and consequences of street hawking among children in Rumuokoro Metropolis of Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with a target population comprising of children hawkers within 6-17 years. The sample size of 389 was selected using the convenient sampling technique. Data was collected using questionnaire which was validated by experts. The data gathered from the field were processed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. The analyzed descriptive statistics were presented in frequencies, percentages, standard deviation and mean. The result showed that most of the respondents 122(32.1%) were between the ages of 5 – 8years, very few of them 48(12.6%) stopped school at primary school level, more 198(52.1%) were female and 162 (42.6) were Christians. According to the result, the factors that led to street hawking were death of parents 230 (60.5%); desire to have money early 222(58.4%); parental laziness 208(54.7%); child trafficking/abuse 260(68.4%); among others. The respondents were equally of the opinion that poverty can lead to street hawking. The perceived effect of street hawking were unwanted pregnancy 340 (89.5%); can lead to drug addiction 202(53.2%), child’s rape 174(45.8%) and even death 230 (60.5%). Also, the result shows that, free education 272(71.6%), help from NGOs 256 (67.4%), and help from religious bodies 140(36.8%) will stop children from hawking on the streets. It was concluded that street hawking is a menace which is eating deep into the society and is causing school drop outs. It was recommended among others that, the government should encourage the NGOs to come up with programs that will help remove these children from the streets, and also ensure that there is free education of all children as it is their fundamental human right.

Keywords: Children, Consequences, Determinant, Hawking, Street.