The protest by some Nigerian traders in Lagos against Chinese retailers should force us to confront an uncomfortable reality: many Nigerians patronise Chinese-owned shops because they are often cheaper. Yes, Nigerian traders deserve a fair business environment. But for over five decades, successive governments have left the Nigerian consumer at the mercy of traders and distributors, some of whom pursue extraordinarily high profit margins simply because weak competition allows them to.
In some markets, trader associations even fix prices and prevent members from selling below an agreed price. A trader is entitled to make a profit; he is not entitled to organise a cartel that leaves the consumer with no reasonable alternative. Government must enforce our competition laws - the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act already prohibits price-fixing - against cartels and exploitative practices.
Government must also make Nigerian businesses genuinely competitive: fixing power so a trader does not spend half his profit on diesel, fixing logistics, and giving manufacturers single-digit loans, tax holidays and industrial power instead of speeches. Foreign companies should be encouraged to establish factories here, create jobs, transfer technology and build local supply chains, instead of simply importing finished products to sell to us.
The country should not protect Nigerian traders from competition; it should protect Nigerian businesses from unfair competition and Nigerian consumers from exploitation. Nigeria under a CDA Government shall be a country where Nigerian and foreign businesses compete fairly. Tamunotonye Samuel Solomon Inioribo, Founder & National Chairman, Citizens Democratic Alliance. Photo: Image from the protest by traders at Trade Fair Complex, Lagos (faces blurred).
