16/09/2026
How do I love this post a billion times , God bless you Iniobong Udoh II . Your excerpts are always overly exceptional and sound !
I'm not here to embolden conspiracy theories about China trying to colonise Nigeria, and I'm not here to write an emotional Chinese versus Nigerians piece either.
I want us to look at what actually caused the protest at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, what the data says, the role government should be playing, and why Nigerians need to stop taking complicated economic issues at face value.
First, I didn't like the “Chinese must go” placards. They give xenophobic vibes, even though from listening to the traders, I believe their main complaint is not that Chinese people should leave Nigeria. Their complaint is that some Chinese manufacturers and wholesalers are allegedly moving further down the chain and selling directly to the same consumers Nigerian traders sell to.
Still, words matter. South Africa should teach us that. In May 2008, attacks that began in Alexandra spread into other parts of Johannesburg and beyond. The South African government condemned the violence within days, but it still escalated, and by June the government reported 62 deaths and thousands displaced. So no, I don't support anything that turns an economic grievance into hostility towards foreigners.
But I also refuse to use a badly handled protest as an excuse to ignore the economic problem underneath it.
Now let's look at data.
China supplied about N5.92 trillion worth of Nigeria's imports in the second quarter of 2026, accounting for 41.02 percent of all imports during that period. More than four out of every ten naira worth of goods Nigeria imported came from one country.
So I understand the consumer saying, “If a Nigerian trader buys something from China and sells it to me for N15,000, while the Chinese supplier can sell directly for N9,000, why should I care?”
Fair question.
Some Nigerian traders overprice products. Some middlemen add margins that are difficult to justify. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has itself said some market associations engage in price fixing at the expense of consumers and that some imported and locally produced goods have been excessively priced.
But the Commission also talked about building a market that allows a legitimate trader's margin without leaving consumers exploited.
That is the word missing from much of this conversation: balance.
Imagine I have bought from a Chinese manufacturer for ten years. I raise my own capital, import the goods, ship them, clear them, warehouse them, employ Nigerians and supply smaller traders. Then the manufacturer looks at the Nigerian market and asks, “Why do I need Iniobong?”
He owns the factory. He knows the production cost. He has scale, direct access to the supply chain and potentially far deeper capital. So first he supplies me, then he enters my market, then becomes my competitor, wholesaler and eventually retailer.
Of course he can beat my price.
But what happens to everybody who used to exist between that factory and the Nigerian consumer?
This question matters because Nigeria does not have an economy overflowing with salaried jobs. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 85.6 percent of employed Nigerians were self-employed in the second quarter of 2024, while only 14.4 percent were employees.
The World Bank says Nigeria also has to absorb about 3.5 million people entering the labour force every year. For many Nigerians, entrepreneurship isn't some glamorous ambition. The job didn't come, so they started selling food, clothes, hair, electronics, spare parts or services just to survive.
So before you laugh at these traders and say, “Who cares? Let everybody compete,” remember that today you're speaking as a consumer. Tomorrow your company restructures, your salary stops being enough, technology changes your job or you lose it completely, and suddenly you too are an entrepreneur.
Then you discover that the World Bank says fewer than one in twenty Nigerian micro, small and medium-sized businesses has access to bank credit, while loans are often costly, short-term and difficult to access.
And somebody tells you to “just compete” with a business that may already control production, have much larger capital and direct access to the factory.
Competition is good. But serious countries don't pretend everyone entered the race from the same starting line.
And this is where the comparison with other countries becomes important.
Ghana welcomes foreign investment, but under its 2026 framework, informal retail activities such as open markets, small shops and kiosks are reserved exclusively for Ghanaians. Foreign investors can still participate in formal retail, but foreign trading enterprises face a US$500,000 minimum capital requirement, and at least 75 percent of skilled employees must be Ghanaian.
Ghana is not saying foreigners are evil. Ghana is saying, “Come and invest, but we have decided what parts of our economy we want preserved for our citizens.”
Kenya is doing something similar. On September 2, 2026, after discussions with traders, President William Ruto's government agreed to expand legislation reserving retail trade and specified lower-level jobs for Kenyans, while still encouraging foreign investment that brings capital, technology, value addition and quality jobs.
Again, the message isn't “foreigners go home.” It is: bring investment that grows the economy, but local citizens must also have economic space.
Then look at India. Foreign investment in multi-brand retail is allowed up to 51 percent through government approval, with a minimum foreign investment of US$100 million. At least 50 percent of the first US$100 million must go into back-end infrastructure such as logistics, warehousing, processing and distribution, while at least 30 percent of certain procurement must come from Indian micro, small and medium-sized industries.
India is effectively saying: if you're coming for access to our massive consumer market, our domestic economy must benefit too.
Nigeria does not have to copy Ghana, Kenya or India word for word. Different economies require different policies.
But at least those countries have answered the question:
What do we want foreign investment to contribute to our economy, and what opportunities should remain available to our citizens?
What exactly is Nigeria's answer?
This is where I have a serious problem with the APC-led Federal Government.
As I write this, the public responses I can find to this specific protest have come from the police, local government officials and market leadership. I have not found a substantive public policy response from President Bola Tinubu, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu or the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment addressing the underlying retail and competition question.
Are we waiting until “Chinese must go” becomes something uglier before the people responsible for policy take the issue seriously?
Government should already be asking whether these businesses are operating within Nigerian law. If they are, tell Nigerians clearly. If laws are being broken, enforce them. If our laws no longer fit the reality of our economy, review them.
And Nigerian traders themselves must change too. If your business model depends on too many middlemen and outrageous markups, competition will eventually expose you. Form cooperatives, buy at scale, create Nigerian brands, negotiate directly with manufacturers, use technology and invest in production where possible. Government protection should never become protection from innovation or an excuse to exploit Nigerian consumers.
But welcoming foreign investment should also not mean Nigerians eventually become spectators in their own economy.
What we should want is foreign investment that manufactures here, employs Nigerians, transfers skills, works with Nigerian suppliers and creates value inside Nigeria.
Because think about the alternative.
Other countries manufacture the products, own the technology, finance the production, export to us, distribute, wholesale and eventually retail them.
And Nigerians simply stand at the end of the chain with our wallets open.
That may give you a cheaper product today.
But is that the economy we want to build for tomorrow?
So no, “Chinese must go” is not my argument. I reject it.
But “who cares, let them dominate retail because things will become cheaper” is also too simplistic.
This is not an Igbo problem, and it should never become an invitation to xenophobia.
This is a conversation about jobs, entrepreneurship, competition, foreign investment, consumer protection and government policy.
Today you may only be the consumer celebrating the cheaper product.
Tomorrow, Nigeria's lack of jobs may turn you into the entrepreneur trying to survive.
And when that day comes, you may wish you had demanded a government that thought about the rules before things got out of hand.
Think deeper.
- Iniobong Udoh II
