Area boys () are loosely organized gangs of street children, teenagers and youths, composed mostly of males, who operate on the streets of major cities in Nigeria, including Lagos, Ibadan, Onitsha, Aba, Umuahia, Akure, Ado-Ekiti and Enugu.They extort money from passers-by, public transporters and traders, sell illegal drugs, act as informal security guards, and perform other "odd jobs" in return for compensation. In present times, "Agbero" is used informally to describe a person, usually a thug, who collects rates, fees, tools and other forms of tax around motor parks. Colonial history Jaguda boys (1920-1940) Jaguda, meaning 'pickpockets', were a group of informally structured young boys based in Lagos and Ibadan whose camaraderie was grounded on age and neighbourhood and whose major form of operation was against property. These boys were usually products of a broken home or have lost a breadwinner and migrated to the city to fend for themselves. Reports of juvenile offenders operating in crowded places began to reach the press in Lagos by the mid-1920s. In Ibadan they were primarily migrant juveniles living in Ekotedo area, their visible means of income is to carry loads of the passengers within railways stations and collecting bus and lorry fares on behalf of drivers. While in Lagos they could be seen gathering in Victoria Street, Ereko market, Jankara market, Iddo railway terminus and outside the tax office. Their underworld activities were conducted through various means, including premeditating chaos in markets or public spaces by pretending to fight each other or bumping into their targets on the road while fellow gang members stealthily pickpocket of onlookers. In Lagos, these group also received payments from market women as a form of protection against theft. Boma boys (1940s) The phenomenon of Boma boys in Lagos was ascribed to a group of unlicensed guides of African and Europeans servicemen who operated prominently during World War II. The boys were based around the Marina, some were stowaways on ships who went to Freetown where the use of the word, bum meant to beg. On their return to Lagos they hung around the Marina duping unsuspecting students of their school fees under the pretext they could arrange for them to travel abroad as stowaways. When ships berth in the Marina, the boys show the way to the restaurants, hotels and brothels in Lagos to newly arrived sailors. When prostitution rose in Lagos, Boma boys were linked