How China is taking over Nigeria
By Sunday Oguntola 30/10/2011 00:00:00
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CHINESE INVASION China is quietly investing in major sectors of the economy and offering seemingly innocuous, low interest infrastructural loans with dire consequences, reports Sunday Oguntola

It is a classical case of the more you look the less you see. Last Wednesday, it was all quiet at　 China Town in Ojota, Lagos. Vehicles, people and goods moved in and out without drawing much attention. A first-time visitor is bound to dismiss sales at the highly-protected business complex as poor. But looks can sometimes be deceptive. The volume of cash exchanging hands in the business environment is really massive.

Nigerian traders confirmed that sales cannot be better. ‘’You may see few people here but what we make is big,’’ Ngozi, a shop attendant, said. She oversees a clothing shop that turns in nothing less than N250, 000 per day. According to her, the bulk of the sales is ordered by wholesales buyers. ‘’We merely display the clothes here while we make money from wholesales traders. They come from as far as the North to place　 orders here. My boss has gone to deliver one of those orders,’’ she revealed.

Trading boom

Most shops visited showed signs of low sales. But the town has evolved in a just few years. It is now patronised exclusively by big-time retailers and wholesalers. This, many attendants said, has reduced human traffic. But what China town lacks in human traffic, it has abundantly in vehicular movements. Many trailers and containers were uploading and offloading goods. Some of the ‘motor boys’ revealed most goods were on the way to different states.

‘’I am going to Abia state,’’ said one of the drivers. He said he travels every other day to deliver container full of clothes, housing utensils and cosmetics imported from China. Another is assigned to moving shoes, belts and antiquities from China to different parts of Nigeria. They also disclosed that there is sales boom. ‘’What we supply cannot but sell. They are what people need everybody. As long as you live, you must wear clothes and use shoes,’’ one of them volunteered.

Checks at China town’s administrative office revealed that a shop space goes for N700, 000. Many prospective tenants were waiting last week to pick forms to get their own chunk of the complex’s gold mine.

Strategic incursions

As it is in China town, so it is elsewhere. Chinese are taking over strategic sectors of the economy, making unimaginable money and displacing local firms. Over 800 Chinese firms have made inroads to key sectors of the nation in the last ten years. On the contrary, over 20 textile domestic companies have folded up since clothes manufactured in China started finding their way to Nigeria. No fewer than 150,000 textile workers have lost their jobs in the process, 　

President of China Institution of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), Mr. Cui Liru, said　 the volume of trade between Nigeria and China is now in the neighbourhood of $13.3billion. That was early this year. He spoke in Abuja during a visit. Liru added that over 117 construction projects have been completed in Nigeria by Chinese as at last November. Most of them were executed by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).

At a time many indigenous construction firms are lamenting low patronage, many state governments are turning to Chinese firms for road construction. A few days ago, Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, met with officials of Hongye Construction Group to perfect talks on road construction. Hongye Construction Group has been given the task to open up and construct some selected roads in Osun State.

The projects include Igbajo-Iresi road in Boluwaduro Local Government; Ajegunle-Orileowu-Gbongan-Apomu-Ikire road in Ayedaade local government and the road linking Iloko-Ijesa – Ijebu-Jesa in Oriade Local Government, which also serves as a link to Aramoko-Ekiti in Ekiti State.

Investments in Oil and Gas

The Chinese also have a huge investment in the nation’s oil and gas industry. In 2006, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Nigeria. He got four oil drilling licences for his country. In return, he pledged China’s investment of $4 billion in oil and infrastructure development projects in Nigeria. China has also expressed interest in buying controlling stake in Kaduna refinery, which has a daily production output of 110,000 barrel. Chinese state oil firm CNOOC also completed a £2.3bn deal to buy a stake in an oil field.

A huge loan has also been granted by China for building of three refineries in Nigeria. In 2005, Nigeria agreed to supply Petro China with 30,000 barrels per day (4,800 m3/d) of oil for $ 800 million. In 2006, CNOOC purchased a share for $ 2.3 billion in an oil exploration block owned by a former defence minister. These moves have consolidated China’s access to crude oil for its energy needs back home. Unconfirmed reports said China is now the second largest buyer of the nation’s crude oil.　

In transportation, Chinese workers have been engaged in rail projects across the nation. Using Chinese workers, critics said, is counter-productive. Pa Rotimi Ige, a retired railway worker, said it is unfortunate Nigerian workers will not earn a living from such huge projects. There are concerns in many quarters that the workers might be prisoners back in Chine bought to Nigeria to execute such important projects.

Made-in-China products are flooding markets across the nation. From cosmetics to mobile phones, shoes and bags, China is importing goods at rock-bottom prices to Nigeria. Nigeria’s highly price-sensitive consumers are swelling China’s foreign reserves, picking its imported goods without questioning their quality. The popular Computer village in Ikeja, the capital of Lagos, has become almost a Chinese colony. Computer accessories and mobile phones from China have become the stock in trade. Chinedu Okoro, a trader, said Nigerians are increasing preferring Chinese products.

‘’Their phones have many features and come very, very cheap. So they are ‘moving’ here a lot,’’ he stated last week. Currently, he receives supplies from a ‘big boy’ in the market. But he is also saving towards becoming a big-time importer from China. ‘’In the next few months, I should have enough to travel,’’ he confirmed. He needs less than N1 million to import sizeable goods from China. His contacts in China have assured him of little problems with visiting factories, hotel reservations, making orders and freighting. This is why flights to China are now daily in Lagos.

China’s staggering population of 1.6 billion needs new trading routes for industrial goods. Nigeria, the most populous black nation, has a big capacity to absorb many of these goods without much ado. So it is a win-win for China. It exports industrial goods and imports crude oil, timber and other natural resources much needed for its swelling domestic energy needs.

Beyond trading

The investments and infrastructural developments across the nation are most welcome. But Chinese are spreading their influence beyond trading borders. An estimated 100,000 Chinese are resident in Nigeria. They are in expensive estates in the commercial cities of Lagos, Port-Harcourt Kano and Aba. Magodo Estate in Lagos plays host to a sizeable Chinese. Residents complained that rents have skyrocketed since they started arriving. ‘’Getting accommodation here now is tough. The Chinese are ready to offer triple whatever Nigerians struggle to offer,’’ Gbenga Ariyo, a resident lamented. Checks revealed that getting a duplex in Magodo has shot up to between N2-2.5m per annum.

To the average Chinese businessman, this is nothing. Nigeria’s large market presents a golden opportunity to make this much in few days. While Chinese tenants are smiling, their Nigerian counterparts are groaning in their own land.

Paying to learn Mandarin

To underscore growing Chinese influence in Nigeria, many prospective businessmen and traders have started paying to learn Mandarin. The Confucius Institute has opened shop right inside The University of Lagos to teach basic knowledge of China’s major language. The centre opened two years ago. It is to provide Chinese language teaching at various levels, teaching Chinese language instructors and Chinese language teaching resources.

Other services are the holding of HSK examination (Chinese proficiency test) and tests for the certification of the Chinese language teachers, providing information and consultative services concerning China’s education, culture, and so forth, conducting language and cultural exchange activities between China and Nigeria.

Director of the Centre, Professor Taiwo Akinyele, said at the formal commissioning ‘‘Our aim is to popularize Chinese language so that our people will not be short-changed in the evolving global political economy in which China is bound to play an increasingly significant role.’’

While many local languages are vanishing, Nigerians are paying to learn Mandarin right in their land of birth. Confucius Institutes are state-funded Chinese ‘cultural centres’ to spread Chinese influence all over the world. Many of such centres exist in African countries. Last May, ten public schools in Lagos State were selected for the pilot scheme of learning Mandarin. Former Deputy Governor, Sarah Sosan, said the plan was to position students for global challenges.

Corporate malpractices

A tax consultant confided that many Chinese firms are defaulting government in tax remittance. ‘’They people are smart traders who have learnt the rope in many other countries. They offer falsified tax certificates or under pay to maximise profits. Unfortunately, many government officials are part of the scam and Nigeria is losing billions yearly,’’ he said.

Few weeks ago, a Chinese firm (name withheld) involved in IT infrastructure based in Victoria Island, Lagos sacked a staff in the finance department for raising an eyebrow over falsification of account records to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). After he reported to relevant government agencies, the firm instructed everyone in the department to delete some vital documents. Some hard wares, according to staff, were also destroyed to get away from government’s officials.

Such practices, investigation revealed, are rife among Chinese firms operating in the country. Many Nigerians have accused them of bribing officials to get contracts, an allegation that has always been dismissed as envious.　　　

Inferior products

Many made-in-China products have been found to be substandard. Traders who spoke with our correspondent in China town and computer village alleged that those goods are only cheap but inferior. ‘’Truth is they don’t last that much,’’ a mobile phone seller said of made-in-China phones. Same is true of many other products supplied from China, many importers confided.

Investigations revealed that Nigerian traders collude with Chinese manufacturing firms to make cheap, inferior products for onward export to Nigeria. ‘’They (Chinese manufacturers) don’t mind because they make money while the Nigerian traders also smile to banks,’’ a source in computer village said.

Efforts to get Chinese authorities to comment on these allegations failed. Our correspondent was at the Nigeria-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry office listed online at Adeniran Ogunsanya, Surulere last Wednesday. The chamber, it was learnt, had relocated to an undisclosed location. Attempts to speak with the Chinese Consulate in Lagos also did not yield results. Twice our correspondent was turned back at the gate. ’’There is no one to talk to you for now, ’’ a security officer said.

Source: www.thenationonlineng.net