In the bustling markets of Alaba, the roadside workshops of Nnewi, and countless micro-stalls across Nigeria's 36 states, a vast economic engine hums beneath the radar of official statistics. This is the informal economy—resilient, dynamic, and accounting for an estimated 42.5 percent of GDP and over 80 percent of all employment. Yet for all its scale and indispensability, this sector operates on margins so thin that a single shock—a health crisis, a currency collapse, a policy misstep—can plunge millions into destitution.