Abstract
The article places work that is "productive, remunerative and satisfying" at the heart of the development process and argues that it can be a cornerstone of the massive effort required to alleviate poverty and meet basic needs. The informal sector is considered as a component of such notion of work, in an attempt to identify some basic issues for better orienting Nigeria's development policy in a direction that would contribute to making work and employment more productive. In this sense, strengthening the urban informal sector would require four different forms of action; in the field of i) data collection, ii) development of linkages with other sectors of the economy, iii) supporting services normally provided to medium and large establishments and, finally, iv) increased proportion of government requirements that could be met through the informal sector production.