Federal Governments’ efforts to check the types of goods coming into the country seems to be failing as importers turn Nigeria into dumping ground for both fairly used items and fake products. These items which have taken larger chunk of the markets, does not only constitute
health hazards to Nigerians, but has exposed the level of poverty in the country to the international community.These fairly used goods comprises of spare parts, vehicles, clothes, inner wears, old computers and accessories, cooking utensils, plates, refrigerator, pressing irons, kettles, mobile handsets, among others. The items are coming in greater number through the ports and border stations despite the Federal Government’s absolute prohibition on the items. Due of the influx of these consignments, most Nigerians are said to have lost count of what it means to have brand new products as either house properties or luxury goods.
Speaking on the menace of these products, some operators pointed out that Nigerians leaving in Belgium , Holland and Germany go to the European junkyards to pick abandoned goods which they ship into Nigerian markets, stressing that such attitude is demeaning and should be urgently addressed by the government.
According to the managing director of Twindeck Shipping Limited, Charles Okorefe, Federal Government’s economic policies contribute to the dumping in Nigeria , regretting that it had destroyed the local industries. A situation where government keeps on changing its policies within short period of time brings about inconsistency in administration and it is usually the importers, manufacturers and the citizenry that would be at the receiving end of such abnormalities he observed. He explained that because Nigerians do not seem to have alternatives, they now think that second hand materials are better than the new products, lamenting that items such as used tyres were dangerous because they were not made for the tropics, which according to him accounts for high rate of accidents on the roads.
He advised that the Federal Government should reduce its tariff on new cars to encourage importation of new ones as well as spare parts, stressing that those bringing in used vehicles should be made to pay higher as it is being done in Ghana . Okorefe advised that government should act fast now if it intends to reverse this trend, maintaining that big manufacturing companies in the country like PZ, Cadbury, Dunlop and Michelin, among others have gone to Ghana and South Africa, stressing that they will eventually produce these items and send them back to Nigeria because these countries had given them the enabling environment for their businesses to thrive, which is lacking in Nigeria. Unfortunately, due to high rate of importation of used items, every nook and crannies of the country especially Lagos State , including the ports and its surrounding are now littered with these consignments.
 Similarly, the public relations officer of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Apapa Command, Dera Nnadi, said fairly used computers which importers dump into the country are not bio-degradable, stressing that rain wash them from garbage site to the rivers with its Lead content, which is harmful to human and aquatic life. He regretted that ladies go as far as buying under-wears used and discarded from Europe , which he said shows the level of underdevelopment in the country. But will you blame the people who buy these products when government could not cater for its citizens. Even the new products in the markets are virtually substandard goods which are made specifically for Nigerians from China and India .
According to Nnadi, Nigerians are at risk because a fairly used cloth containing Anthrax could kill millions of people within a short period of time, maintaining that government should carryout awareness programme to sensitise the populace on the dangers of using the country as dumping ground. He however pointed out that substandard and fairly used goods would continue to come into the country unless government finds solution to industrialise the country.
The United Nation Industrial Organisation (UNIDO) representative in Nigeria , Sodhi Navdeep, on his part, said Nigeria had become a dumping ground of various textiles materials because of the collapse of the manufacturing sector. He explained that the remaining 24,000 workers of the existing textile industry are in the intensive care unit, stressing that greater awareness should be created among the stakeholders about its damaging effect on the economy and the need to check trade practices.
Navdeep suggested that the Federal Government should engage the Chinese authorities by drawing their attention to the serious damages caused by the trade malpractices of their textile exporters to the Nigerian economy. According to him, the Federal enforcement agencies like the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Copyright Commission and Standard Organisation of Nigeria, should take effective measures against substandard goods and counterfeiting of Nigerian manufacturers’ trade marks to avoid dumping.
On his part, the managing director of Banquaires Facilities International Limited, Felix Adeduro, said it might be a lot difficult for the government to stop dumping of fairly used items and substandard good in the country, stressing that what it should rather do is to put certain levy on these consignments, which are being smuggled into the country especially through the land borders, and open a special industrial fund which should be used to revive the manufacturing sector. He believes that the Federal Government could generate a whopping sum of N430 billion annually if smuggling activities are legalised in the country provided they are not harmful goods, saying that in the next few years, the industrial sector could have something to fall back on rather than not doing anything at all.
Adeduro pointed out that locally manufactured textiles were more costly than the imported ones, stressing that if the manufacturers were given the necessary support to import modern machines with the latest design, it would go a long way to boost local production in the country and reduce dumping. He maintained that the foreign companies have the machines and are willing to partner with Nigerian companies to produce these goods locally, provided they would provide reliable guarantors. The Banquaires Facilities boss explained that companies in China and India have different types of machines that could produce millions of textiles and other products within few hours, stressing that they brand these goods ‘Made in Nigeria’ and smuggle them through the border.
The deputy managing director of Banquaires Facilities, Perpetua Okeke, pointed out that Nigeria had lost about 10 million employment because of dumping, insisting that government should see a way of encouraging local production to preserve the future of the up-coming generation. She explained that as far as Nigeria does not encourage local production, it would end up supporting the economy of India , China , Pakistan , Sri Lanka , among others, which according to her was not a good development for the country. Okeke called for the development of industrial policy because several companies had gone out of production because there was no continuity in government. Citing example, she said that most of the companies along Oshodi Expressway and Industrial layout in Ikeja, Lagos, used to produce one thing or the other, but today, they have all gone into importation only, which had given the foreigners the field day to do what whatever they think is good in there own sight.
As for the leader of Nigerian business community in the United Arab Emirate, Godson Onyeka Obieze government should increase the tariff on some of the items so that those importing them would continue rather than banning the goods because they will still filter in through the ports and borders stations. In the same vein, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Achike Udenwa, explained that the major cause of dumping in Nigeria is because of lack of power (electricity) for the manufacturing sectors to operate, stressing that no industrialist would like to run his company for 24 hours on diesel. He regretted that the manufacturing sector is only contributing about 3.6 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is not good enough to industrialise the nation. The minister said the government is also looking at how to reduce the lending rate so that manufacturers could have access to funds. Udenwa however called for attitudinal change among Nigerians saying that some of the importers were not prepared to obey the country’s laws as being done in other parts of the world.
Bashir Borodo, the president, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) on his part, said the absence of power has dislocated the country from the micro and macro economic benefit enjoyed in the last four years, stressing that it had become a challenge to the manufacturing sector. He explained that the way things were going in Nigeria and the rate Asian and Europeans are dumping substandard and fairly used goods, people might wake up one day to discover that they could no longer feed or clothe there families, which he said had necessitated quick government intervention to revive the local industries to avoid further dumping.