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Living and Working in Nigeria (West Africa)
- Thread starter neddy
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
- Messages
- 543
- Points
- 18
Big Chinese influence in Nigeria
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/opinion/majapearce-nigerias-china-connection.html
Nigeria’s China Connection
LAGOS, Nigeria — “How China Is Taking Over Nigeria” is a typical headline in the national press these days, and it is hard not to feel that this is so, at least here in Lagos. The most visible sign is Chinatown, with its red, castle-like wall surrounding a huge complex in the Ojota district. The main entrance is marked with the inscription, “Long Live Nigeria-China Friendship.”
I first visited the place shortly after it opened in 2004, which might be taken as the year China began to register its presence here in a big way.
More than 17,000 Chinese are said to be legally resident in Lagos and neighboring Ogun State, but the true figure is certainly much higher. The head of the Immigration Service, David Paradang, gave those official figures last year, but he noted that many Chinese people come into Nigeria on “visiting, tourist or business visas” and remain illegally.
Adewale Maja-Pearce
Nigeria’s National Lassitude JAN 12
The Nigerian Status Quo NOV 16
Changing Nigeria’s Cruel Police Culture OCT 7
Nigeria in the Time of Ebola SEP 5
Nigeria’s Power Problem AUG 7
See More »
What he didn’t say was that many of them bribe the immigration officials to stay on — as I saw for myself when I visited an Immigration Service office. The Chinese man who was trying to extend his stay spoke very little English but was evidently used to the system. All that needed to be discussed was the official’s price, and you don’t need too many words for that.
Curiously enough, Chinatown seems more subdued today than when I first visited. Back then, it bustled with activity as people filled shops selling clothes and shoes of all descriptions, cosmetics and kitchen utensils — all of it cheap. There were a number of Chinese restaurants, too. Although some Nigerians worked in the shops, most of the staff appeared to be Chinese.
Now, on another visit a decade later, all the restaurants were closed and more than half the shops unoccupied. Those that were open had few shoppers. But this was deceptive. The truth is that the Chinese are moving on to bigger things.
“You see few people here, but the money we make is big,” said a shop assistant. “We merely display the clothes here while we make money from wholesale traders. They come from as far as the north to place orders here.” She reckoned that her shop alone took in more than $1,500 a day.
China’s growing economic presence is evident in Computer Village in the nearby Ikeja area, a warren of streets with three- and four-story buildings, all occupied. More people — almost all Nigerians — sell Chinese goods on the sidewalks or walk about hawking their wares. The fastest-moving items are mobile handsets. According to one Nigerian retailer, they’re cheap but don’t last long. He told me that his supply depends upon a “big boy” — a middleman who has made enough money to be able to go abroad, buy wholesale and offload the goods back home.
The street merchant said that he hopes to travel to China himself when he has saved enough. There are now daily flights between the two countries, and the Chinese Embassy doesn’t give people a hard time over visas. The street merchant said he was also taking the opportunity to learn Mandarin at the Confucius Institute at the University of Lagos, which opened in 2009. More recently, the Lagos state government announced a pilot program to teach Mandarin in selected schools.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
The strengthening ties between China and Nigeria are mutually beneficial for several reasons. Apart from a ready market for their goods in a country of 177 million people, the Chinese have a pressing need for Nigerian oil. In January, the Nigerian government announced that a Chinese firm had agreed to invest $10 billion to explore for oil and gas in the Bida basin in Niger State. This is a welcome development, given the reluctance of Western companies to do business in a country plagued by corruption and security threats.
Despite all this, the Chinese themselves remain unpopular. This is partly because they don’t mix with Nigerians, and are widely perceived as too mercenary. This image was reinforced several years ago when it was revealed that China was the source of many of the counterfeit drugs entering the country. The director of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control at the time, Prof. Dora Akunyili, expressed frustration with the Chinese authorities over their lack of cooperation.
Chinese employers here also have a bad reputation for the way they treat workers. The haunting memory of a fire in a rubber-products factory in 2002 that killed anywhere between 45 and 250 people or more (accurate figures are a rarity in Nigeria) still strikes a nerve. Survivors said that many of the workers had been locked inside overnight — apparently a regular practice. They painted a grim picture of violence and sexual exploitation in the factory, problems that have been echoed elsewhere.
Yet to single out the Chinese in this way is unfair. Nigerian employers are hardly any better, and in some cases perhaps even worse. One sees this clearly enough in the violence inflicted on any number of “houseboys” and maids brought from the villages to slave away in city homes. From time to time one is beaten to death for a minor infraction, but nobody is ever brought to justice once money changes hands.
Expatriate employers can get away with what they do because the system encourages them. During her crusade against counterfeit drugs, Professor Akunyili singled out Marcel Nnakwe, a Nigerian, as the biggest producer in the country. Attempts to bring him to justice proved abortive, despite the huge amount of evidence her agency had compiled. She herself survived a number of assassination attempts and, on one occasion, the commission’s laboratories were burned down. Nobody was charged.
Perhaps it is just easier for us to blame foreigners for what we do to ourselves.
Adewale Maja-Pearce is a writer and critic, and the author of “Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa, and Other Essays.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/opinion/majapearce-nigerias-china-connection.html
Nigeria’s China Connection
LAGOS, Nigeria — “How China Is Taking Over Nigeria” is a typical headline in the national press these days, and it is hard not to feel that this is so, at least here in Lagos. The most visible sign is Chinatown, with its red, castle-like wall surrounding a huge complex in the Ojota district. The main entrance is marked with the inscription, “Long Live Nigeria-China Friendship.”
I first visited the place shortly after it opened in 2004, which might be taken as the year China began to register its presence here in a big way.
More than 17,000 Chinese are said to be legally resident in Lagos and neighboring Ogun State, but the true figure is certainly much higher. The head of the Immigration Service, David Paradang, gave those official figures last year, but he noted that many Chinese people come into Nigeria on “visiting, tourist or business visas” and remain illegally.
Adewale Maja-Pearce
Nigeria’s National Lassitude JAN 12
The Nigerian Status Quo NOV 16
Changing Nigeria’s Cruel Police Culture OCT 7
Nigeria in the Time of Ebola SEP 5
Nigeria’s Power Problem AUG 7
See More »
What he didn’t say was that many of them bribe the immigration officials to stay on — as I saw for myself when I visited an Immigration Service office. The Chinese man who was trying to extend his stay spoke very little English but was evidently used to the system. All that needed to be discussed was the official’s price, and you don’t need too many words for that.
Curiously enough, Chinatown seems more subdued today than when I first visited. Back then, it bustled with activity as people filled shops selling clothes and shoes of all descriptions, cosmetics and kitchen utensils — all of it cheap. There were a number of Chinese restaurants, too. Although some Nigerians worked in the shops, most of the staff appeared to be Chinese.
Now, on another visit a decade later, all the restaurants were closed and more than half the shops unoccupied. Those that were open had few shoppers. But this was deceptive. The truth is that the Chinese are moving on to bigger things.
“You see few people here, but the money we make is big,” said a shop assistant. “We merely display the clothes here while we make money from wholesale traders. They come from as far as the north to place orders here.” She reckoned that her shop alone took in more than $1,500 a day.
China’s growing economic presence is evident in Computer Village in the nearby Ikeja area, a warren of streets with three- and four-story buildings, all occupied. More people — almost all Nigerians — sell Chinese goods on the sidewalks or walk about hawking their wares. The fastest-moving items are mobile handsets. According to one Nigerian retailer, they’re cheap but don’t last long. He told me that his supply depends upon a “big boy” — a middleman who has made enough money to be able to go abroad, buy wholesale and offload the goods back home.
The street merchant said that he hopes to travel to China himself when he has saved enough. There are now daily flights between the two countries, and the Chinese Embassy doesn’t give people a hard time over visas. The street merchant said he was also taking the opportunity to learn Mandarin at the Confucius Institute at the University of Lagos, which opened in 2009. More recently, the Lagos state government announced a pilot program to teach Mandarin in selected schools.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
The strengthening ties between China and Nigeria are mutually beneficial for several reasons. Apart from a ready market for their goods in a country of 177 million people, the Chinese have a pressing need for Nigerian oil. In January, the Nigerian government announced that a Chinese firm had agreed to invest $10 billion to explore for oil and gas in the Bida basin in Niger State. This is a welcome development, given the reluctance of Western companies to do business in a country plagued by corruption and security threats.
Despite all this, the Chinese themselves remain unpopular. This is partly because they don’t mix with Nigerians, and are widely perceived as too mercenary. This image was reinforced several years ago when it was revealed that China was the source of many of the counterfeit drugs entering the country. The director of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control at the time, Prof. Dora Akunyili, expressed frustration with the Chinese authorities over their lack of cooperation.
Chinese employers here also have a bad reputation for the way they treat workers. The haunting memory of a fire in a rubber-products factory in 2002 that killed anywhere between 45 and 250 people or more (accurate figures are a rarity in Nigeria) still strikes a nerve. Survivors said that many of the workers had been locked inside overnight — apparently a regular practice. They painted a grim picture of violence and sexual exploitation in the factory, problems that have been echoed elsewhere.
Yet to single out the Chinese in this way is unfair. Nigerian employers are hardly any better, and in some cases perhaps even worse. One sees this clearly enough in the violence inflicted on any number of “houseboys” and maids brought from the villages to slave away in city homes. From time to time one is beaten to death for a minor infraction, but nobody is ever brought to justice once money changes hands.
Expatriate employers can get away with what they do because the system encourages them. During her crusade against counterfeit drugs, Professor Akunyili singled out Marcel Nnakwe, a Nigerian, as the biggest producer in the country. Attempts to bring him to justice proved abortive, despite the huge amount of evidence her agency had compiled. She herself survived a number of assassination attempts and, on one occasion, the commission’s laboratories were burned down. Nobody was charged.
Perhaps it is just easier for us to blame foreigners for what we do to ourselves.
Adewale Maja-Pearce is a writer and critic, and the author of “Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa, and Other Essays.”
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
- Messages
- 543
- Points
- 18
Mega Plaza, a shopping mall in Lagos, Nigeria full of Chinese traders selling Home Entertainment electronics, Luggages, Sports & Leisure merchandise, Computers & Office supplies, MP3 Players, Phones, Toys & Games, Home Furniture etc
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
- Messages
- 543
- Points
- 18
Chinese supermarket in Nigeria
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
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- 543
- Points
- 18
Mega Plaza, Lagos, Nigeria
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
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- Points
- 18
Chinese traders in Lagos, Nigeria
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2008
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- 6,464
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- 0
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
- Messages
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Check out this Singaporean woman finding success in Rwanda, Africa
[video=youtube;sLJgqAukNl0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=348&v=sLJgqAukNl0[/video]
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singaporean-woman-sets-up/2186728.html
Singaporean woman sets up Rwanda's first modern poultry farm
By Lam Shushan
SINGAPORE: Growing up, her family called her a chicken without feathers because of her tiny frame. Now, Lam Shumei (full disclosure, this writer's sister) is known as "Madame Poulet du Singapur" - the "Chicken Madam from Singapore" - because she is the biggest chicken farmer in Rwanda.
“When I meet people in Singapore and I say I have a chicken farm in Rwanda, their response is, 'Chicken farmer? Rwanda?'" she said, adding that most people back home know little about the East African nation apart from the genocide in 1994.
Thankfully, Rwanda has moved on from its violent past. According to the Global Law and Order 2015 report, the country is now the safest African country to live in.
Ms Lam was first introduced to Rwanda in 2011 while on a business trip to some African countries. She was surprised to find that chicken meat was the most expensive meat in the market, selling at over 3000RWF (S$5.60) per kilogramme, more than what most Rwandans could afford to have regularly.
“A large part of the economy is still driven by subsistence farming. A lot of things have to be imported because the country is relatively new,” she said. Poultry meat was being imported from as far away as Europe, and the lack of modern farming techniques locally have driven up the cost of production.
The following year she returned to set up a social enterprise, Poultry East Africa Ltd (PEAL), with the aim of providing affordable meat proteins to the nation. Rwanda still struggles with food security despite steady economic progress in the last two decades.
“The average Rwandan only eats meat once a week and typically it’s your goat or beef. So chicken was a luxury meat. Those in the local villages could only afford to have their local ‘Kampong’ chicken once a year,” she said.
RWANDA'S FIRST MODERN POULTRY FARM
PEAL is the first company to be running a modern chicken farm in Rwanda, and has the capability to output 8 tonnes of poultry meat every week.
“Farming is all about economies of scale. You have the same fixed cost, same fixed overheads which is shared over the number of chickens you produce,” Ms Lam said.
The farm is equipped with an automated feedmill, 4 semi-automated chicken houses with capacity to double, and a 400 bird-per-hour processing plant.
“We are looking at actually increasing our production capacity because we do not have sufficient supply for the markets,” Ms Lam said.
The farm began operations in December 2014, and within less than a year, the company has brought down the price of poultry meat by over 30 per cent.
“I believe that we have successfully entered the market to bring down the price of poultry meat, so more and more people are able to afford poultry chicken meat on a daily basis,” Ms Lam said.
MAKING A SOCIAL IMPACT
More than just a business, one of the main objectives of the project has been its social impact.
“Before we set up the farm in this area, the farm was pretty much bush land. We believe that we created a local economy by having a project here because more industries and houses are starting to pop up in our vicinity,” she said.
The project has helped generate employment in the Bugesera district, a 40 minute drive from Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city. At the moment, the farm employs 60 people who are mostly from the surrounding villages.
"WOW, I'M A CHICKEN FARMER"
But the journey has not been without its challenges. “Utilities are a day to day problem. The power goes off five times a day especially during the dry season. Water is also scarce," said Ms Lam.
Finding the right people for the job was also one of the initial challenges because modern poultry farming was a new concept in the country. “Teaching them managerial skills, following systems, generating reports are all very important parts of farming because it’s a process,” Ms Lam said.
“It’s very easy to get caught up in the day to day frustrations and challenges, but sometimes I have surreal moments where I realise wow, I’m a chicken farmer and providing opportunities for many people. It’s a really good feeling,” she said.
- CNA/ss
[video=youtube;sLJgqAukNl0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=348&v=sLJgqAukNl0[/video]
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singaporean-woman-sets-up/2186728.html
Singaporean woman sets up Rwanda's first modern poultry farm
By Lam Shushan
SINGAPORE: Growing up, her family called her a chicken without feathers because of her tiny frame. Now, Lam Shumei (full disclosure, this writer's sister) is known as "Madame Poulet du Singapur" - the "Chicken Madam from Singapore" - because she is the biggest chicken farmer in Rwanda.
“When I meet people in Singapore and I say I have a chicken farm in Rwanda, their response is, 'Chicken farmer? Rwanda?'" she said, adding that most people back home know little about the East African nation apart from the genocide in 1994.
Thankfully, Rwanda has moved on from its violent past. According to the Global Law and Order 2015 report, the country is now the safest African country to live in.
Ms Lam was first introduced to Rwanda in 2011 while on a business trip to some African countries. She was surprised to find that chicken meat was the most expensive meat in the market, selling at over 3000RWF (S$5.60) per kilogramme, more than what most Rwandans could afford to have regularly.
“A large part of the economy is still driven by subsistence farming. A lot of things have to be imported because the country is relatively new,” she said. Poultry meat was being imported from as far away as Europe, and the lack of modern farming techniques locally have driven up the cost of production.
The following year she returned to set up a social enterprise, Poultry East Africa Ltd (PEAL), with the aim of providing affordable meat proteins to the nation. Rwanda still struggles with food security despite steady economic progress in the last two decades.
“The average Rwandan only eats meat once a week and typically it’s your goat or beef. So chicken was a luxury meat. Those in the local villages could only afford to have their local ‘Kampong’ chicken once a year,” she said.
RWANDA'S FIRST MODERN POULTRY FARM
PEAL is the first company to be running a modern chicken farm in Rwanda, and has the capability to output 8 tonnes of poultry meat every week.
“Farming is all about economies of scale. You have the same fixed cost, same fixed overheads which is shared over the number of chickens you produce,” Ms Lam said.
The farm is equipped with an automated feedmill, 4 semi-automated chicken houses with capacity to double, and a 400 bird-per-hour processing plant.
“We are looking at actually increasing our production capacity because we do not have sufficient supply for the markets,” Ms Lam said.
The farm began operations in December 2014, and within less than a year, the company has brought down the price of poultry meat by over 30 per cent.
“I believe that we have successfully entered the market to bring down the price of poultry meat, so more and more people are able to afford poultry chicken meat on a daily basis,” Ms Lam said.
MAKING A SOCIAL IMPACT
More than just a business, one of the main objectives of the project has been its social impact.
“Before we set up the farm in this area, the farm was pretty much bush land. We believe that we created a local economy by having a project here because more industries and houses are starting to pop up in our vicinity,” she said.
The project has helped generate employment in the Bugesera district, a 40 minute drive from Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city. At the moment, the farm employs 60 people who are mostly from the surrounding villages.
"WOW, I'M A CHICKEN FARMER"
But the journey has not been without its challenges. “Utilities are a day to day problem. The power goes off five times a day especially during the dry season. Water is also scarce," said Ms Lam.
Finding the right people for the job was also one of the initial challenges because modern poultry farming was a new concept in the country. “Teaching them managerial skills, following systems, generating reports are all very important parts of farming because it’s a process,” Ms Lam said.
“It’s very easy to get caught up in the day to day frustrations and challenges, but sometimes I have surreal moments where I realise wow, I’m a chicken farmer and providing opportunities for many people. It’s a really good feeling,” she said.
- CNA/ss
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2016
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If you are a good person nothing to worry wherever you are whatever you do as long as it is in the low surely will be in a good hand. And also you need to have a valid requirements.
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2013
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Yeah keep copying my clones... and u and your pap ib will only make this forum eyesore to your valuable trade partners.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2008
- Messages
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The colonization of the dark continent is gonna happen again. This time, led by the Chinese via economic means. All resources n minerals controlled by Chinese. And then they ship out in communism infused containers. The fear of McCarty is gonna come true.
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2008
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if they cheat more sinkie aunties of their savings by posing as angmo tua kee, they would become wealthy too.
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