As immigrant Chinese traders move to dominate the Nigerian retail market, residents of Lagos Island are now at the receiving end of the power of the Chinese Yen. This is as landlords fall upon themselves to rent their houses to the Chinese traders.
Last Thursday at No. 39 Bankole Street, off Elephant Cement House in Apongbon, Lagos, tenants in the building numbering over 20, said they were confronted by a court bailiff with a court injunction to throw them out of the house.
He said the landlord obtained a court injunction to eject them out of the building for owing arrears of rent. But Tunde Lemu, a professional tailor who lost his shop, work tools and several finished clothings in the confusion that ensured during the forceful ejection, said the injunction was “fraudulently and illegally obtained.”
He added that the landlord had without knowledge of the tenants rented the building out to Chinese in contravention of the Lagos State Tenancy Law of 2011. The Chinese traders paid five years’ rent to the landlord in advance. “That’s the attraction,” he said.
“We were never served any court notice. Chinese traders have taken over. We heard they intend to convert it to a warehouse. Most of the buildings on this street have been taken over by these Chinese, including the ones on Lake Street. They started gradually from ‘China Town’ on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi; Great Nigeria Building.
Later, they started competing for space with traders at Balogun Market. “Ojota China Town was also opened for them and now they are spreading out rapidly all over the Island, including these areas which are mainly residential.
Only government can save the people from this situation. The poor tenants will continue to be helpless as the landlords will continue to exploit the corruption in our judicial system to get dubious injunctions to eject tenants. “The court injunction is genuine but fraudulently obtained.
We don’t have the wherewithal to challenge it, more so the man now has a lot of dollars paid to him by the Chinese traders. We all know how our system works. We have moved our families to safe places first to see if we can start life all over again,” he said.
The Asia-Nigeria relationship has been on the upswing in recent times, particularly since President Olusegun Obasanjo tenure. Perhaps, to underscore growing Chinese influence in Nigeria, many prospective businessmen and traders have begun to learn Mandarin, even as some local languages are going extinct.
Not long ago, Lagos State picked 10 public schools as a pilot scheme for the teaching and learning of the Chinese language. According to the deputy governor of the state at the time, Mrs. Sarah Sosan, the essence was to put students in pole position to function globally. As Asian companies comb Africa in search of virile markets for their products and cheap labour, Nigeria appears to be a favourite hunting ground, so to say.
Indeed, foreigners, particularly the Chinese, Indians and Lebanese are mushrooming in the country, making inroads in every sector of the economy, from the petroleum sector to construction, transportation and aviation, commerce and trade. Apart from ‘serious’ businesses. These foreign businessmen are also into such activities such as running sex cartels in Nigeria. They import teenage girls and camp them in some apartments in Lagos for prostitution. Not too long ago, one of such camps, located in Ikeja, Lagos, was in the news. Many of such outfits are scattered in Abuja.
In the last 10 years, no fewer than 800 Chinese firms have berthed in Nigeria; bringing along with them over 900,000 Chinese, most of them illegal immigrants. But while the Chinese companies are flourishing, especially the textile arm, tens of local textile firms in Nigeria have gone under ostensibly as a result of cheap, foreign materials. Indeed, the level of Sino involvement in the Nigerian economy, both at the micro and macro levels, could be referred to as an aggressive takeover.
The fact is that, Asians are giving Nigerian traders and businessmen a run for their money – in the latter’s own country. Before now, the Chinese, for instance, were mainly into export or just had Nigerian businessmen come into their country with a portfolio of requests for made-in-China products. These were quickly manufactured according to specifications. The story is now different. Sunday Telegraph learnt that they are now on ground everywhere selling wholesale and retail to customers.
The impact of the invasion of the Nigerian markets by Chinese traders came to the fore recently when the President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr. Frank Jacob, lamented that Chinese and other Asians were moving into distributive business activities and gradually taking businesses from Nigerians.
Speaking at a recent Annual General Meeting of the association in Lagos, the MAN boss said the incursion of the Chinese into small vending businesses such as retail trading, textile, electronic among others has become even more worrisome. He also expressed worry over the faking and passing off being carried out by Chinese businessmen in the process of importing their wares. “While we appreciate Chinese investment in the country, we don’t think they should be allowed to venture into distributive trade.
We therefore urge the Federal Government to look into this situation,” he said. Similarly, the Embroidery Dealers Association and the Association of Nigerian Marketers of the Balogun market and Ereko Idumota area of Lagos Island recently staged a protest to the office of the Iyaloja of the market and office of the state governor, over the alleged invasion of their markets by some Chinese, whom they claimed had almost taken over their businesses.
The protesters alleged that the Chinese importers had allegedly brought disrepute to the smooth running of their businesses by flooding the market with inferior quality textile and hair products that were being sold at ridiculously cheap prices.
This is even as the President of Associated Progressive Traders, Trade Faire Complex, Chief Juderingo Okeke, said the opportunities of trade are threatened in the plaza due to the influx of foreign retail outfits.
Okeke explains the situation: “As I am talking to you now, we are thinking of how to handle these foreigners, especially those from the Asian countries. I know that when they were given visas by the authorities, they were not given trade permit. They do the kind of business that a citizen can hardly do. They cut corners, they abuse the system.”
One of the lace fabric dealers, Alhaja Muheebat Adeoye, said the Chinese were not only allegedly robbing the traders but also shortchanging the consumers. She explained that “these Chinese have Nigerians fronting for them in the markets where they mix high quality products with the inferior quality and they sell at very cheap rates.
Buyers cannot differentiate between the imitation and the original. “The imitation is so perfect that one would hardly know the fake. They are killing our business because we don’t sell anymore,” she stressed.
A leather box trader, Adeolu Owolabi, said the Chinese are killing the business, urging “government to do something about this because this cannot obtain in their own country. How can they rob us of our rights?”
Dealers in textile and allied materials at the Balogun market in Lagos blame the low sales during the last Christmas season, for example, on the alleged invasion of the market by Chinese traders. They, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to introduce measure to enhance the quality of Nigerian-made products. For Mrs. Azeez Kuburat, also a dealer in textile material (aso-oke) the fabric, which is indigenous to Nigeria, is now being manufactured by Chinese. “It is a shame that Chinese produce better quality and varieties of aso-oke.
The Chinese claim that they get aid from their home government,’’ she said. She stressed that local products can only compete with those of the Chinese, if the Federal Government empowers local industries.
“We still use crude methods to weave asooke. We need to upgrade our technology so as to stand out and protect our cultural heritage,” she said. Mrs. Ekwerenmadu Florence, another trader, stated the need for government to formulate policies to compel the use of indigenous products. “Government should be actively involved in boosting and spreading indigenous products to a level where they can compete anywhere in the world,” she said.
Okechukwu Nwoko of Top Integrated Service Limited believes Chinese traders have been able to make inroads into Nigerian markets, because of the strong support from their government.
A Chinese trader at Balogun market, Pit Micheal, attributed the high patronage enjoyed by his clothing materials to the superior quality of Chinese products and their lower prices. Mrs. Min Zue, another Chinese trader, blamed the situation on Nigerians’ preference for cheap products, following which they jump at any little price slash. “We make new things every day. So if you come to our shop you will see something new every day. So you can say we are versatile,” she added.
Fakes too President of Phones and Allied Products Dealers Association, Ikeja, Lagos, Ik Nwosu, believes the Chinese are firmly associated with faking popular brands.
“They don’t have any other thing to sell than fake products. The reason they come here and sell these fake products is because they are either duplicating one popular product or another. Any genuine business person that wants to project a brand knows that there are phases or procedures for you to pursue your brand. “You can’t just bring 10,000 pieces of unknown brands into an economy and expect to sell those products.
So, they fake popular brands. The advantage for them here is that people buy anything that goes by these brand names. It is easy for them to come here and sell their fake products. We’ve caught them many times,” Nwosu said.
He added that his group had an issue with some Chinese businessmen currently before the Consumer Protection Council, expressing worry at the ease with which the Asians invade Nigeria. He also lamented that they are allowed access into the economy not minding the harm their illegal activities cause individuals as well as the economy in general. He called for a tighter regulation on the influx of foreigners.
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