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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