Kano State is popularly known as the centre of commerce in the West African sub-region but lately, markets in the state have witnessed influx of Chinese traders who sell their wares at cheaper rates to customers to the disadvantage of indigenous traders. ABDULLAHI MOHAMMED SHeka (Kano) reports.
Centuries of business activities have made the Kano State very distinct from its numerous neighbours as it attracts people from across the globe. The history of the market dates back to the people of Jega, who first occupied the Kantin Kwari textile market, the biggest textile market in Africa.
The Jega people controlled the textile business in Kantin Kwari made the government of their time to give them all the necessary support to boost their business activities.
Kantin Kwari was them dominated by the Lebanese who came to reside there, but, when business activities heightened, they (Lebanese) gave out their residences in Kantin Kwari for rent to the textile marketers.
When they fully settled, they began to import textile materials to the market from abroad apart from our homemade ones which hitherto, made our economy boom. In a short period of time, the business activities of Jega marketers began to decline in Kantin Kwari market.
The Lebanese traders and businessmen who had dominated business for decades, had gained a lot in the market before the coming of Indians and Chinese. However, things changed when the Chinese stormed the market place as spies, arriving with innovations resulting from their understanding of the secret of business in Kano.
The unfair trading by Chinese has brought the textiles marketers to their knees, through their importation of textile materials; they store the goods, which they store at the warehouses then dispatch to the local market for sale. Chinese activities have compromised the potential of local textile marketers in Kantin Kwari, the market activities has been jeopardized going by the marketing strategies taken by the Chinese.
The Chinese use local marketers to attract customers and at the end of the transactions, they settle the middlemen with than N1,000 or even N500. When the Chinese get to understand the business tactics, they grant five to ten thousand to a middleman that brings customers. ‘‘The Chinese have hijacked our ancestral business, and straitened business opportunities no thanks to blackout in Nigeria and lack of government support. Also bribery and corruption has become order of the day amongst security operatives and the government officials.’’
China has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world through imitative innovtions. If a marketer gives Chinese a sample of a product, he quickly order his at a subsidised rate.
Six years back, Chinese began importing a native Hausa cap (Zanna Bukar) which is well known to be made in Maiduguri, Borno state, but with the coming of the Chinese, Zanna Bukar has lost its high sales in Maiduguri, but due to price subsidy on the caps, people still embrace it.
It is no longer news that the Chinese are making a fortune from their imposition, posing a threat to the local dyeing businessmen, especially in areas of the dyeing of fabrics, which has been a main attraction to foreigners and tourists alike for centuries, until the. Chinese started importsing Ghalilar Textile in the State.
At first, they (Chinese) imported Ghalilar textile because of it poor quality, but when it come to the notice of the Chinese traders that the inferior products were being rejected by buyers, they then bought white textile (Shadda) and ordered it for dyeing instead.
Local dyers complained of imported Chinese-made commodities undercutting local goods that prompted thousands of local dyers march to the emir’s palace in protest. In their appeal to the Emir, Mallam Muhammadu Sanusi II, they urging the monarch as well as the government to intervene in what they described as unfair trading behaviour of the chinese.
The quality of Chinese brands like Oasis and 212 was also embraced by many as a result of its taste which makes it a favourite for buyers who purchase the product along Zoo road, while some make brisk sales in their automobiles with which they display their wares to their customers in every nook and cranny of Kano. A source also confirmed to LEADERSHIP that even sachet water is now being distributed by the Chinese to their customers.
The Chinese business strategies have put local businessmen in the state on the brink of bankruptcy and it appears that no one is capable for any legal action against them as they storm the market place calling on customers to patronise their products at cheaper rates.
Prices Of Their Products
The Chinese noticed that Nigerians are more interested in cheaper products than quality. Hence, the Chinese traders make the price of their products affordable to everyone.
Chinese Interaction With General Public
No doubt, the Chinese have seriously studied our people noting that wealthy indigenous businessmen don’t struggle to develop or invest heavily in their country. That is why they (Chinese) infilterated the Hausa natives leading good interaction between the Chinese and them.
‘‘The Chinese have also mastered they art of giving or taking bribes and they understand that Nigeria have shown little or no concern regarding the menace, therefore they feel confortable giving bribes to most of our leaders, because in Kano a Chinese seems to have more right than even the native of Kano State.’’
What Nigerians Say
Chairman of the Kano State Dyers Association, Alhaji Bashir Dauda told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND that the Chinese problem is worse than HIV/AIDS because the involvement of the Chinese in business activities in Nigeria cause more harm than good. “They have made about 50,000 youths jobless, they also cripple our country’s economy,” he said.
Also speaking, Vice Chairman of Kantin Kwari Marketers Association, Alhaji Auwalu Gabari Jakada, said that the continued stay of migrants is unacceptable. “We travel to their home countries, we see how they treat strangers; why should they come to our country and hijack everything?” he said.
On his part, an economic analyst, Alhaji Sanusi Umar Ata said that the issues can be viewed from different angles “because the Chinese traders came into the country with their wealth. Again, we are operating an econmy with no market place for textiles like Shadda, lace material and local atamfa. If we ban the Chinese from importing such materials, where do we produce from?
“What is now left for the government as challenges are how to raise the country’s economy to our expectation, tackle power problem and end youth unemployment. By doing so, the country’s economy will witness unprecedented boost,” he said.
As a result of these major business difficulties, almost all the local marketers in Kantin Kwari have now become middlemen for Chinese traders because our government shows no political will to tackle the problem.
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