NIGERIA’S and China’s efforts at strengthening their trade ties through the curbing of the excesses of manufacturers and importers in both countries have hit the rock.

The two countries, which met to tackle the dumping of sub-standard goods, especially in Nigeria, could not reach a consensus on all the issues raised at the talks. So, the two nations could not sign a proposed bilateral pact on the menace.

After a series of consultations and meetings in China, the Federal Government and the Chinese authorities declined to accept Abuja’s proposal that only quality products should be imported into Nigeria by the two nations’ businessmen.

The Director-General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Joseph Odumodu, led the Nigerian delegation to the talks with the Director-General of Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China (AQSIQ), Mr. Wang Xin.

The Guardian learnt that the meeting, which was initially marked by optimism on both sides, turned awry when Nigerian government demanded certain concessions, which the Chinese government refused to grant.

It was, however, not an entirely failed adventure as the parties agreed that products, which do not meet the standards for export qualities, should be identified, and their further exports stopped. They also agreed that when the manufacturers are found to have violated the laws of any country, they should be punished accordingly.

The Chinese government also accepted not to charge fees for its pre-inspection services, and that all products exported to Nigeria should comply with the Chinese and the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) specifications, and that should products arrive in Nigeria and are found to be without China Inspection Quarantine (CIQ) certificates and are adjudged sub-standard, the importers would be treated according to the laws of Nigeria.

Information made available to The Guardian yesterday by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) showed that the Nigerian team demanded that products deemed not fit to be sold in China should not be imported into Nigeria.

The delegation also requested that products found wanting on arrival in Nigeria be quarantined, investigated by both parties and if found wanting, returned to the country of origin. But the Nigerian trade ambassadors rejected the demand by China to charge 1.5 per cent for every 1,000 products destined for Nigeria.

The draft agreement, which has been on the drawing board, was to be finalised in the interest of both parties, a goal the meeting did not achieve.

In his address, Odumodu had said that the issues of products’ quality and standards were serious to both countries.

He said the issue of sub-standard products from China had been long and could not be swept under the carpet.

According to Odumodu, the dumping of sub-standard products in Nigeria had led to the loss of hundred of lives, economic hardship, and environmental degradation, and should therefore be stopped.

He emphasised that at each time such products arrived in Nigeria and were quarantined, it was the hard-earned money of Nigerians that goes under the drain, while the Chinese manufacturers benefit.

Odumodu said at present, trade between the two countries is lopsided because the Chinese government does not share in the losses.

Earlier, Xin told the Nigerian team that he hoped the visit would lead to the signing of the agreement.

He said China was aware of Nigeria’s concern about sub-standard goods being exported into its market, and the perception that the products come from China, thereby having a negative image for his country.

Xin said the Chinese government was committed to working with Nigeria to addressing the problem, but the way the meeting ended, he declared, pointed to the other way.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government has said it had invested N157 billion in Nigeria’s power sector.

Also yesterday, the country granted Nigeria N2 billion for solar electricity generation at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University in Katsina.

The support, which was described as the first grant-aid project for solar energy to Nigeria under Japan’s Overseas Development Assistance frame-work, is part of Japan’s contribution with Nigeria to improve the power supply in the country.

Japan’s Ambassador Extra-ordinary to Nigeria, Mr. Ryuichi Shoji, who exchanged the documents for the project with the Minister of Power, Barth Nnaji in Abuja, said Japan’s contribution to Nigeria’s power sector had reached N157.2 billion since 2000.

Shoji said his country was turning to renewable energy for more sustainability in electricity supply.

The envoy said the seven projects executed so far by Japan in the power sector cover five states of Nasarawa, Bauchi, Borno, Cross River and Akwa Ibom, adding that “securing sufficient provision of power is one of the top priorities of Nigeria’s industrial and economic policy, and we are happy to have been able to add to the efforts of Nigeria in this regard.”

Also, two French firms, Electricity Company of France and Electricity Distribution Company of France, are to finance projects in Nigeria’s power transmission network.

To determine which projects Nigerians need most, both firms yesterday commissioned a study of the country’s transmission network with the French government providing N40 billion (200 million Euros) for the scheme.

Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, said in Abuja yesterday that the arrival of the French outfits in the sector would set the stage for projects implementation with the latest western technology.

The parties in the pact are to identify and agree on a specific transmission project within the range of $200 million, evaluate its feasibility, and implement it.

Chairman of the Electricity Company of France, Mr. Jean Paul Mairesse, stressed that the projects to be determined by the study would be executed by a local firm, Transnational Energy and Power Systems Limited (TEPS).

At the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the French firms and the Ministry of Power, Executive Chairman of TEPS, Prince Albert Awofisayo, said the support by the French government was unprecedented.

The French firms involved in the MoU are Electricite de France (EDF) and Enterprise de Transporte et Distribution D’ Electricite (ETDE).
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86294:nigeria-china-disagree-over-anti-dumping-pact-&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

china should go and rest,most of the buildings built by Chinese govt in Angola were not solidly build some are showing signs of collapsing.. see


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUqmdyRLd8Y

Lol. And who is buying these so-called substandard goods?

If many Nigerians are not happily buying them, there won't be any market.

Rather than complaining, improve electricity in the country so that there will be more alternatives.

Nigerian government...full of lazy whiners and complainers.

ekt_bear: Nigerian government...full of lazy whiners and complainers.

That's right Bro!

ekt_bear: Nigerian government...full of lazy whiners and complainers.

That whole nation is full of such.

@Post

Nigerians need to ignore chinese goods. Many Chinese goods lack quality. Even in the States, americans are being encouraged to buy "Made in USA" products. Why would China want to dump products not fit for their society on Nigeria? This is why I don't trust all these asians that have infiltrated our society, the same way I don't trust white people. I feel that other racial groups don't have our best interest at heart and hence, we should tread carefully.

I don't know why we Africans don't learn from the silly mistakes our ancestors made back in the day that lead to slavery and colonialism leaving Africa in the despair and mess it is today. Why the sudden interest in Africa by these asian countries anyway? I just have a bad feeling and I just don't trust these foreigners because of what my eyes have seen whilst living abroad.

This is how dog treats made in china and being sold in the american market made alot of american pets sick and some died. I fear made in china products. They are substandard. Nigerians open your eyes before chinese people introduce cancer causing products into your life. You know our healthcare system is nothing to write home about should you (God forbid) develop cancer. Not everything foreign is the best contrary to what most Nigerians think but I know you people won't listen. Na una know.

ak47mann: china should go and rest,most of the buildings built by Chinese govt in Angola were not solidly build some are showing signs of collapsing.. see


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUqmdyRLd8Y

Exactly!

I don't why we Africans are so quick to trust foreigners (with contracts) but then when it comes to trusting each other we cannot but when oyibo and chinco come along, we begin to act like these groups are some kind of demi gods. I don't know whether we Africans are cursed. We certainly act like we are.

Its not enough to go to China to sign an anti-dumping agreement. What measures have we formulated and implemented here to identify and punish those unscrupulous businessmen who deliberately go to China to buy these fake products, and how successful have those measures been? We need to show that we are ready to put our own house in order before we will be taken serious by other countries.

Contrary to what many people believe, the Chinese actually make some quite durable stuff. Its just that we have generally been unable to enforce global standards with regard to the products we import from China, leading some businessmen to collude with some Chinese manufacturers to import cheap, lower-standard products to the detriment of our own producers and consumers. The SON should do more to enforce product standards.

I wonder what those "concessions" are.

no country can compete with products being produced by slave labor.


Tell China to stop slave labour

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/tell-china-to-stop-slave-labour-138701239.html

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on his trade mission to China next week, should ask China to stop exporting the products of slave labour to Canada and to shut down its extensive network of slave labour camps. He should propose an arrangement with China to attempt to ensure that this happens.

China engages systematically in forced labour in all forms of detention facilities -- prisons that house sentenced criminals, administrative detention for those not yet charged, and "re-education through labour" camps.



Near Slave Labor Sweat Shops in China Lead to Worker Suicides

http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2010/06/30/near-slave-labor-sweat-shops-in-china-lead-to-worker-suicides/


Apple (and America’s) Chinese Slave Labor Problem

http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/karl-denninger/2012/01/23/apple-and-america-chinese-slave-labor-problem#




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF8jUDzz5bE

[img]http://shardsofchina.files./2012/03/china-economy-working-class-production-line.jpg[/img]





[img]http://philebersole.files./2012/03/nike-sweatshops.jpg[/img]


This week in slavery



chinaslaveminesfactory.jpgThe recent rescue of 31 slaves from a brickworks factory in Shanxi province last week shocked the entire country, and with good reason—these people were forced to work under what are, for the 21st century, unthinkably inhuman conditions. But for an estimated one thousand children still trapped in the mountains of Shanxi, the nightmare continues.

But now, people are fighting back. 400 Chinese fathers sent out a cry for help on the internet, hoping for information that would help them recover their kidnapped sons. They scraped enough money together to rescue some of the children, mostly those that, like the men, were Henanese. The slave children from other provinces have not been as lucky.

An editorial (in Chinese) asks the question of where the responsibility for all this lays. The kids were forced to work 14 hour days without rest. Their meals consisted solely of mantou (steamed buns) and cold water, and had to be finished in fifteen minutes. They slept in a locked room, on the floor, with thugs and dogs patrolling the outside. And they did this in a factory that was 20 miu big and in plain sight from the neighboring villages. The question is not why this situation exists, but why and how it could have existed this long. 1.5 years—that's how long those people were in there before being rescued.

Of course, the answers aren't too hard. First, it's hard to find out where your child might be. There are thousands of such factories and mines in the area. Secondly, there is non-cooperation or even interference from the local authorities. The 400 fathers said in their internet posting that local police often held an attitude of the kidnappings happened in Henan—go report it there. If a father managed to find his child, only that child would be freed—meaning, again, each father would have to individually find their child. Considering this, it's really no wonder that they decided to band together and issue a plea for help on the internet.

The only way that the situation could get any worse is if the slave-drivers are the authorities, which was virtually the case with Wang Binbin, the owner of the factory, who is the son of Caosheng Village Party secretary.

Other reports we've read indicate that the rooms where the slaves slept was destroyed and the thugs and dogs have all disappeared. Hongdong prefecture, where the factory was located, has offered an official apology and given each rescued worker a whopping 1000 yuan in compensation. The original "price" of each slave is 500 yuan.