The Dialectic of ‘Junctions’ and ‘Bases’: Youth, ‘Securo-Commerce’ and the Crises of Order in Downtown Lagos

Abstract

This article examines the involvement of youth — constructed as ‘area boys’ and ‘area girls’ — in crises of order in downtown Lagos. It explores the emergence of ‘bases’ and ‘junctions’ as modes of organization and differentiation between and among youth in urban Lagos. A ‘base’ is a neighbourhood meeting place where youths gather to relax, recreate, and discuss sports and politics. A ‘junction’ is where social miscreants, street marauders and touts congregate to exploit money-making opportunities. It is my argument that bases and junctions embody distinct, yet connected, forms of subcultures that are simultaneously imbibed and projected by members. Moreover, they constitute emergent forms of territoriality constructed around spaces of leisure, residence and commerce, manifested in extrastate regimes of (dis)order in downtown Lagos. The article unpacks the involvement of members of junctions and bases in the provision of (dis)order as ‘securo-commerce’ — payment of different kinds of fees and levies to purchase security or forestall insecurity in downtown Lagos.