Earlier this month, customs officials arrested four Chinese traders for smuggling mass-produced fabrics and sealed 26 warehouses containing goods on which import duties had not been paid.
Hundreds of textile dyers then staged street protests against what they view as a Chinese takeover of their trade that threatens to put 30,000 artisans out of business.
The dyers, many of whom still use methods dating back more than 500 years, accused the Chinese of faking their products and selling inferior cloth at a fraction of the price.
– Enforcement, regulation –
The situation is just one aspect of the struggle facing Nigeria’s crude-dependent economy, which has been hit hard by the slump in global oil prices since mid-2014.
There is little domestic manufacturing to speak of, forcing goods from cars to foodstuffs to be imported.
The local Muslim religious leader the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, met China’s ambassador to Nigeria at his palace recently and called on Beijing to set up factories in the country.
“Our over-reliance on foreign products is hurting our economy and the only way to stop this trend is to tackle the problems in the manufacturing sector,” said Sanusi, a former central bank governor.
Sa’idu Adhama, a former textile factory owner, said Nigerian traders cannot compete with their Chinese counterparts, who can get bank loans at single digit rates over a longer term.
“The Chinese are here legally, so we can’t send them packing but we can regulate their trading,” said Adhama, who studied in China in the 1970s.
That could include quotas, stricter enforcement of import regulations, duties and taxes as well as fuel subsidies to boost local manufacturing and help home-grown businesses, he added.
Long-term investment in the power sector to stabilise the currently woeful electricity supply could also revive moribund factories, he said.
In the meantime, the debate is immaterial to people like Badaru, with cheaper foreign imports satisfying demand for a growing consumer society, whether it is clothing or electronics.
“For me and most low-income earners, Chinese textiles are a blessing. They give us the opportunity to appear neat and elegant with little money,” he said.
