Follow Us on Google
From: David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
Dealers in complete motorcycles and their spare parts at the multi-million naira Nkwo Nnewi market have called upon the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Directorate of State Services (DSS), the police and other relevant security agencies, to come to their rescue from the hands of pirates who they said have overrun the market with fake products.
One of the stakeholders in the market and the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer of KOTEC Group of Companies, Chief Chika Emenike, while commenting on the activities of pirates at the market, said only 30 percent of goods sold at that market were genuine products as the pirates now flooded the market with the rest seventy percent, all substandard products.
Chief Emenike said the worst aspect of the incident was that the perpetrators had formed a syndicate whose members defied police arrest and had continued to carry out their activities brazenly.
he maintained that this gives the impression that there were strong sponsors of their activities who always gave them protection.
Emenike, whose company deals in motorcycles and tricycles spare parts as well as the production of Tummy Tummy instant noodles, said that the agencies whose duties it is to handle the situation seemed to be looking the other way while the perpetrators continued to have a field day.
Said he, “The problem we have in this part of the country is that those whose duty it is to handle this kind of problem will not do it unless you see them in a special way. And this issue of piracy is affecting us badly and the fakers continue their activities with confidence that nothing will happen.
“We have many people from other parts of Nigeria and outside the country who come to Nnewi to buy these products because we have the largest concentration of motorcycles and tricycles dealers in Nnewi. There are reports of accidents sometimes occasioning deaths as a result of the use of fake spare parts by the unsuspecting general public. Why should government keep quite over this issue that has to do with human lives?”
According to Emenike, the pirates would pick reigning products in the market, take them to China where they would order an inferior quality with the brand name of the reigning products and flood the market with the inferior ones “despite the effort of the Chinese government to stop these people.” He said they would bring down the prices of those fake products so low that the unsuspecting buyers would go for them..
He explained that some of the foreigners would come into Nigeria, rent apartments and begin to produce fake materials unabated.
Chief Emenike said if government did not take urgent steps to fight pirates at Nkwo Nnewi market there would be a steady increase in road crashes as a result of fake automobile spare parts and that many genuine dealers would be chased out of business.
