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By Chinyere Anyanwu
Members of Auto Spare Parts and Machinery Dealers Association (ASPMDA) comprising importers and traders at the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos, have called on the Federal Government to intervene in the challenge posed to their businesses by the unwholesome activities of Chinese businessmen operating in the complex.
The President General of ASPMDA, Chief Daniel Offorkansi, who made the call recently in Lagos during a press conference, stated that the Chinese businessmen, whom he alleged came into the country through the back door and do not pay taxes, were running importers and traders at the market out of business by setting up retail shops within the complex and selling far below the prices at which they import from China.
Offorkansi lamented that, “we import a product from China for N2,000 so how can a Chinese come here and sell the same product for N750. That’s to tell you that what they are selling is substandard products. To this, my people in ASPMDA are saying no.” He said, “the Federal Government needs to assist us to fight this problem of Chinese businessmen coming in here to sell substandard products and making it seem like it is we businessmen in ASPMDA that are selling substandard products.”
He explained that the association has notified the management of Trade Fair Management Board whose leadership has assured that something would be done to check the situation, saying, “we believe the able board will help us to carry our plight to the right quarters.”
Offorkansi further said, “we need the intervention of the Ministry of Trade and Industry in these challenges we’re facing in the market. We appreciate what Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is doing for us in this regard but we are expecting it to do more so that ASPMDA will be a market where a customer will buy something and be sure that the product is 100 per cent genuine.”
He equally stressed the implication of allowing the situation to continue, saying, “There is no way government will encourage Chinese businessmen to open retail shops here. What government wants is for foreign investors to set up manufacturing industries here and create jobs for our people. Government cannot say, for instance, that a Chinese businessman should come to Nigeria, rent a shop in ASPMDA and begin to sell retail. If government allows that, it should also be ready to see a lot of the people employed by traders and importers lose their means of livelihood.”
Also decrying the situation, the spokesman of importers at ASPMDA, Mr. Paul Agbanusi, harped on the need for government to properly regulate the activities of foreign investors in the country, especially Chinese businessmen.
