The last two decades have witnessed a major shift in global trade. Thousands of European and American businessmen moved their factories to China. One major reason given was the cheaper cost of labour in China. As a result, thousands of Europeans and Americans franchised the manufacturing of thousands of items from ordinary pins to motor cars to Chinese businessmen.
Today, China has become the manufacturing factory to the whole world and it is causing problems in the economies of many countries, including countries in Europe and Americas. It is also causing untold problems for the economies of African countries.
One major problem that the Chinese have caused the world is their invasion of almost every country with their inferior goods. The Europeans and the Americans responded by forcing them by law to produce according to standard. The implication of this is that the Chinese manufacture for Europe and the Americans markets very standardised items, especially electronics and other household items, otherwise, the Chinese manufacturer would be penalised.
You may not have heard of the death of the age old cloth dyeing industry in Kano, no thanks to the unscrupulous Chinese businessmen, who invaded the city with their own inferior versions of dyed cloth and sold them to the people. As it turned out, the Chinese versions were only fine to look at but not as durable as those dyed by the native dye masters in the ancient city of Kano.
The issue is already generating furore among the rich people in the northern states who used to enjoy wearing dyed “Babariga” made in Kano. Dyeing of cloth is as old as the 14th and 15th centuries in Kano. At that time, Kano was a trading city located on the Trans Sahara trade route and every traveller going towards the Mediterranean cities would need to stop over in Kano to buy dyed cloth. Now, that is no more. The rampaging Chinese traders have brought in their own inferior cloths from China to put a stop to the ancient culture of dyed cloths in the northern states.
The highly respected Emir of Kano, Alhaji Lamido Sanusi, was the one who actually openly expressed regret a few years ago on the vanishing culture of dyeing cloths in Kano. He believed the invading Chinese traders were taking away the jobs of thousands of Kano people, who were either employed to dye cloths and those who traded in dyed cloths. He wanted the Federal Government to look into the issue as the Federal Government should not be ordinary onlookers while the Chinese invaders chase our traders away from our trades and markets with their inferior wares.
Next is the Chinese unethical trade practice. They go into other countries without respect for the laws of the land. This was how they invaded Nigeria to market their wares. Today, they are found in every market across Nigeria trying to unseat Nigerian traders in the markets. The Federal Government cannot claim that it did not know that this is happening in our markets. Government must take note of how the Chinese traders have invaded our markets and turned Nigerians into inferior citizens their own countries. This unethical trade practice must be stopped forthwith. That is not all. If a Chinese company gives you agency and your company becomes the local agent of the Chinese company in Nigeria, before long, the sane Chinese company that gave you agency to market and sell its products in Nigeria will also locate another office here to compete with you or it will send a subsidiary of its company to Nigeria to compete with you and take you and your company out of the Nigerian market.
They don’t mind that, as their agent in Nigeria, you must have incurred some expenses which they (the Chinese company) did not compensate you for. Having created the market for their products here, they simply come and take the market away from you without compensation.
The issue of Chinese traders who have virtually taken over the various markets in Kano State was a subject of recent discussion at the Kano State House of Assembly. At the end of the discussion, the State House of Assembly set-up a seven-man
ad-hoc committee to investigate the series of complaints by local traders, alleging that foreign traders have virtually taken over their business in various markets in
the city.
According to the legislators, foreign traders who were selling goods to the local traders in Kano as wholesalers have now embarked on selling the products as retailers.
The legislators said, “It is unfortunate that foreign traders who were known to bring goods to Local traders and sell to them as wholesalers have now taken over the retail sales business.”
The foreign traders have not only taken the retail trading in the markets, but have engaged in selling product to the traders at a particular amount, and also sell it to consumers below that amount. This is unfair trade and should be stopped.
Going forward, time has come for the Federal Government to legally force foreigners to respect Nigerian laws. A situation where Chinese and Indians come here to take over our markets while our own traders become second rate citizens in their own country should no longer be allowed. The time to act is now.
Dayo Onibile
