University of Calabar Students’ Contributions to the Livelihood of Traders in Goldie Market, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

There is always a mutual dependence between students and petty traders in university towns across Nigeria. The study focused on the University of Calabar students’ contributions to the livelihood of traders in the Goldie Market serving the University. It was hypothesized that the purchasing power of students, their population and level of patronage do not significantly affect the livelihood of petty traders. The study adopted the survey design and accidentally sampled 200 respondents using the questionnaire as the instrument of data collection. Data obtained was analysed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and a significant relationship between the students’ purchasing power, their population and patronage on the traders’ livelihood was found. To avoid urban poverty among petty traders, government should support the petty traders and the informal sectors through providing credit facilities with less interest, so they can always have stock of goods to meet student’s demand.