Pattern and Behavioural Approach to Fraudulent Practices in the Informal Economic Setting

Abstract

The experience of consumers in recent times has been described in various studies as disastrous and one that portends serious danger to the safety of human life.  The frequently reported cases were those that pertained to agricultural food items.  It is amusing that consumption of these products that ought to complement nutrient in human life has become source of discomfort and health hazard.  Coupled with this was the case of fraudulent practices which were reported as rampant within the traders in public markets.  In spite of this, such cases were not given the kind of adequate attention that they deserved by scholars.  This study therefore emerged as a response to this with objectives of interrogating the experiences of the victims of this anomaly through the dimension that the fraudulent practices was taking and the management approach being adopted to address it.  The study is descriptive in nature: a total of 28 respondents comprising consumers, foodstuff sellers and officials of Foodstuff Sellers Association were involved in the study. Both purposive and snowball sampling procedures were used to reach out to these respondents. Interview guide was the major instrument used to source for data from the respondents in the course of in-depth and key informant interview sessions.  All the consumers engaged as respondents here as well as some sellers acknowledged the existence of fraudulent practices within Bodija Market, Ibadan. The common fraudulent practices within this market, according to the findings of this study, included measurement cheat, hoarding of goods and mixture of the products with bad/diseased variety.  Only a few of the victims of the fraud reported the matter to the officials of the Market.  Measures adopted by the respondents to counter the fraudulent practices include extensive consultation with other consumers who patronized the market over the credibility of the sellers and their wares.  There are consumers who go about with their measurement modules (kongo) while in the market to make purchases; this category of people will not buy from any seller except those that allowed the usage of the consumers’ module alone.  Recommendations presented emanated from the respondents and were in line with the findings of the study.

Keywords: Consumers, Food Stuff, Fraudulent Practices, Kongo, Sellers.