“Owo Elese”… Spreading “Street Tax” Introduced by Area Boys

The army of youths across different areas has given a name to the money they coax or extort—depending on time and circumstances—from pedestrians.

It is now called Owo Elese (Pedestrian Toll).

Sources say the money, usually given by pedestrians based on how well area boys sweet-talk the givers, is now transforming into a “street tax.”

And the practice is spreading.

“They are beginning to demand, in the form of veiled threats, rather than ask,” sources say.

Checks revealed that the pedestrian toll is criminally inspired by the street tax imposed on commercial motorcycles, buses, and tricycles.

But unlike the others, Owo Elese is being extorted from pedestrians.

Those in the know disclose that it is also extended to vehicles in slow traffic.

“The money obtained from motorists in slow traffic is also part of Owo Elese,” according to sources.

Although attempts are being made to curb the emerging menace, with the increasing number of area boys, the anomaly is yet to be eradicated and is instead being adopted in other places as the perpetrators migrate.