President of the China Chamber of Commerce in Nigeria (CCCN), Ye Shuijin, has denied the involvement of China in the supply of low quality products to Nigeria. He said this while speaking with reporters in Abuja.
“Most of the substandard products that came to Nigeria are not from China because the Chinese Government has well-structured standards in place for its products.
“China products are of high quality, nonetheless Chinese government is already cooperating with the Nigerian government to promote importation of quality products to Nigeria,” said Ye Shuijin.
Nigeria for some time now has been a dumping ground of fake products which upon usage poses a great threat to one’s safety.
Some of these fake products include: fake rice (plastic rice), drinks, beverages, drugs, wires, tomato paste etc.
Despite the efforts of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) at tackling these high rates of substandard import, the Nigerian market is still flooded with these products and branded to be from China, Belgium, Netherlands, United States, India etc.
According to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), China is a major import trading partner with 16.79%, followed by Belgium with 14.88%, Netherlands with 10.80%, United States with 8.07% and India with 4.53%.
Ye Shuijin also said that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Chamber are working hand in hand to regulate the inflow of fake products into Nigeria.
Some factors encouraging the influx of substandard products in Nigeria:
Nigeria with its large population is a profitable market for the producers of these fake products owing to the high demand of cheap products and high cost of supposed quality products. Corruption of some officials of Customs, SON, NAFDAC etc. can also be attributed to this menace.
What can be done?
- Policies discouraging the importation of substandard goods should be enacted. For example, the import duties should be raised
- The standard of living of Nigerians should be improved
- The government should look into the factors that influence the high price of quality products to make them affordable to Nigerians
- Improved quality control by the respective agencies assigned to ensure the safety of Nigerians
Although, China has denied its involvement in exporting fake goods to Nigeria, the identity of the real manufacturers of these products are still unknown. If the substandard goods are classified as imports then its logical to say it comes from other countries.
How does raising the import duty on goods help? It’s not like when they are being brought in, you can point at them and say this is substandard and that one isn’t. If that can be done, wouldn’t the solution be to stop the substandard goods from coming in once identified? If you raise the import duties, it is going to have to be on all the goods coming in, which means even those whose goods are of good quality will pay this extra amount and the cost will most likely be pushed to consumers again, who will in turn go and look for cheaper alternatives (which will most likely be the substantial product), at the end of the day, its counterintuitive