It was Toluwani Simeon’s first time in Lagos, the nation’s commercial capital. With the beautiful and ugly things the 32-year-old said he had heard about Lagos as the commercial hub of Nigeria and one of Africa’s fastest growing megacities, he said he could only wait for the bus he boarded from Akure, the Ondo State capital, where he resides, to get to Lagos so he could also have a feel of ‘Lagos life.’
But, beyond his desire to visit the Centre of Excellence, Simeon, who is also a computer technician in Akure, said he planned to buy some things from the popular Computer Village, a renowned market for computers, phones, accessories and other affiliated gadgets – sales and repairs – in Ikeja, the capital city of Lagos.
“I’d heard a lot about Lagos, especially Computer Village, maybe because I also deal in computers, and I knew I might have to visit the place one day. So, when the time came, I embraced it,” he said.
However, Simeon’s optimism and escalated expectation about Lagos was, shortly after his arrival in Lagos, replaced with grief and distress. The computer village he had dreamt of visiting became the focal point for his distress as he lost all his money to fraudsters whose presence spread across the market.
He told our correspondent that he had tucked the N100,000 he wanted to use to buy the things he needed in his two pockets and some in his bag. “I was happy seeing the things I needed in surplus and these are things I couldn’t get in Akure. So, for a few minutes I went round the market doing some shadow-pricing. People were calling me to patronise them, some even drew me and they were pulling me in different directions, I had to free myself from them and entered a shop of my choice,” he added.
Simeon, while relieving his experience to Saturday PUNCH, recalled that he found that his two pockets where he kept his money were empty when he wanted to pay for some items he bought from a shop.
He narrated, “I dipped my hands into my pockets again and it was still empty. By that time I had become nervous, so I had to check my bag to see if I had transferred all the money into my bag. But when I opened the bag, even the one I kept there was nowhere to be found. I was confused. I asked the person I was buying something from if he helped me see my money, but he said no.
“He asked me, ‘You sure say dem never thief your money?’ It was then that it dawned on me that I had been robbed. The only incident I could remember was when I was trying to meander through the teeming crowd when some street traders were pulling me. My brother, I almost ran mad. I felt like crying but I had to be a man. I remembered all the people who gave me money to help them buy things in the market and wondered what I was going to tell them. At a point, I felt I was hypnotised or maybe it was all a dream, but it was real.
“I lost N100, 000 just like that. They even stole my smartphone from my pocket without my knowledge. Before I could go home, I had to call my brother in Akure to send me some money, which I used for my bus fare. I went home deflated. My brother, I will never go to that place again. It’s too rough for any innocent mind.”
Simeon’s experience in Nigeria’s largest Information Technology market is just one of such painful experiences that first-timers and even regular visitors to the market are sometimes subjected to. It is a place where extra care is the only means to safety and survival despite its huge potential.
Computer village, a place of wonders
For those who know about its existence, the name, Computer Village, brings just about one thing to the mind; a central market for information and communications technology products, services and expertise.
Acclaimed as Nigeria’s largest technology market, it is like a home of solutions for gadgets such as computers and all the accessories, printers, cameras, compact discs, phones and all the accessories, including memory cards, batteries and chargers, and everything else that has to do with ICT.
Beyond that, it is an exceptionally busy market where many high tech companies are well represented and where technicians, app developers and IT experts of all kinds carry out their trade. Thus, true to its name, it is the home of computers and other allied products and it draws patronage (including the ICT needs of individuals and corporate organisations) from across the country.
“Any ICT gadget problem or accessories that cannot be solved or found in the whole of Computer Village cannot be solved or found anywhere else in Lagos,” a phone repairer in the market, who gave his name as John Spirit, boasts to our correspondent.
Given the number of traders (shop owners and street traders), customers, passersby and hoodlums who throng the market every day, human traffic in the market is usually so overwhelming that navigating the intra-roads could be problematic. This is even made worse as sellers of clothings, wristwatches, shoes, belts and food items now flood the market daily.
But, in spite of the benefit of this market to the ICT sector in Nigeria, it is characterised by crime, piracy, tax evasion, constraint of space and chaos, all of which experts in the industry have identified as factors undermining its potentials, owing to government’s lack of interest.
A Village lagging behind
Like the Shenzhen’s SEG Electronics Market in China and the Silicon Valley in the United States, both of which are also internationally recognised ICT hubs, the Computer Village is as well a massive IT market and a large employer of labour for all kinds of people, from startups to those who are well established including graduates who are unemployed.
Perhaps, the factors that contribute to the two aforementioned centres’ good rating and success, which seem to be lacking in Nigeria’s Computer Village are decorum, organisation, rules guiding the conduct of business and the extent to which the potentials of the markets have been maximised or undermined.
For instance, the SEG in China is a modern skyscraper comprising 71 floors above ground level and four floors underground for parking. It is not just the 21st tallest building in China, but also the 72nd tallest in the world.
Beyond the architectural advantage that provides a whopping 170,000 square metres for the numerous traders in the facility, the shops are arranged in a way that low-level devices are found on lower floors while the high-level ones are on the upper floors. And each shop is demarcated by transparent glass to enable customers to see the items on display at a glance.
Findings also showed that the market is well-coordinated and regulated by the Chinese government, and according to experts, the organisation and decorum that the market enjoys have helped to maximise its potential.
Like SEG, the Silicon Valley in United States, which refers to all high tech businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is now generally used as a synecdoche for the American high-technology economic sector, is like a flagship for ICT hubs in the world. The SV is home to more than a thousand of start-ups and global technology companies with Google, Apple, Facebook, and Adobe among the most prominent.
Beyond its admirable layout, orderliness and remarkable influence in high-tech research and enterprises, it no doubt generates substantial revenue for the US government as report says it accounts for one-third of all of the venture capital investment in the United States. And its key indicators are employment, income, commercial space, innovation and entrepreneurship.
While the silicon-based integrated circuit, the microprocessor, and the microcomputer, among other key technologies, were all developed in the Silicon Valley, experts say Nigeria’s computer village appears to be struggling to find its feet for stability to make the expected contribution to high-tech innovation and development in the country and beyond.
A village with many ills
During one of our correspondent’s many visits to the market, while the various streets in the market were bubbling with activities, a number of shops were calm and relatively quiet when compared. A shop owner on Otigba Street, who introduced himself as Adams, was dozing when our correspondent arrived his shop.
It was 12pm but Adams had yet to see a single customer that day, thus, he took a nap. “That is the way it is most of the time,” he said as he rose from his stool to attend to our correspondent. Responding to enquiries by our correspondent on the reason for the low patronage despite the teeming crowd in the market, he continued, “The street traders have taken our customers away because they sell items at ridiculous prices and some of their wares are stolen items,” he added.
This implies that beyond crime, piracy, tax evasion and constraint of space, street trading has also contributed to the chaotic nature of the market.
Adams continued, “We pay rent, which is very high, we pay tax to the state government and the local government also comes for its share but the street traders are the ones making the money. They make the market look so chaotic such that it seems scary for some people to even come close.
“They (street traders) don’t pay rent; they only bribe officials of the local government, security agents and hoodlums who roam the market freely. Now, hoodlums collect N500 from them while KAI is N700 and police is N500. That is why it is difficult for us to fight them because you would also be fighting those benefitting from them. Regardless of the fact that most of those street traders sell fake and substandard items, some people still prefer them because their goods are cheaper. My brother, it is sad what has become of this market.”
Some other traders who spoke to Saturday PUNCH accused the government of not regulating the activities in the market. They noted that there was sanity in the market when government relocated phone sellers on the streets to the GSM village close to Airport Road, but that since the new crop of sellers found their way to the market, the situation could best be described as worst.
There are many (fully occupied) shops and shopping plazas in the market but findings showed that due to the inability of many traders to rent shops, some, including phone technicians among whom are unemployed graduates, take to the street using umbrellas as shade while some others defy the scorching sun to carry out their trade all day.
Also, unlike the conducive atmosphere for technology workers like app developers in other ICT hubs around the world, findings showed the situation in the market, including high cost of rent, poor power supply, noise pollution arising from hundreds of generators in the market, have forced many of such people to either venture into other trades or do mobile service.
Notably, the market comes alive as early as 7am while commercial activities wind up at about 6pm, but in the space of the 11 hours (more or less) operating window, all kinds of activities take place in the market. Apart from the genuine commercial activities, many customers and sometimes traders, lose their money, phones and valuables to thieves and pickpockets who roam the market at every hour of the day, a development that has forced some major dealers to relocate to the fringes.
The chaotic nature of the market is further exacerbated by the poor power supply, which compel traders to resort to using generators since most of the activities there are dependent on electricity.
Findings revealed that the number of generators, which vary in sizes, is in hundreds, causing deafening noise throughout the day, coupled with the attendant contamination of the air by harmful chemicals. Visits to the place at the peak period, between 12pm and 4pm, showed that yelling might be the best form of communication in certain places because of the noise.
When the noise from the numerous generators is combined with the music, advertorials and announcements blaring from giant speakers mounted outside by many shop owners, the whole place is as chaotic as can be imagined.
Another issue of concern to many about the market is the prevalence of fake or substandard products. It is even safe to say the market is a ready market for stolen gadgets from across the state due to the willing buyers.
Findings showed that bulk of such items are being sold by the street traders, who indirectly pay bribes to government agencies and security agents who are expected to stop their activities. Thus, while some customers end up buying fake or substandard products sometimes for the price of original products, some lose their money to fraudsters, some of whom use charm to hypnotise their victims.
Our correspondent found that with the presence of all kinds of people; traders, marketers, passers-by, customers, technicians (skilled and unskilled), thieves, jobless persons and visitors in such a confinement, all kinds of activities go on in the premises. Simeon’s experience seems like a brief narrative of some of the things that happen in this renowned village.
Endless tears from Nigeria’s ICT hub
Just like Simeon, Rasheedat Ibrahim, 25, cried inconsolably penultimate Tuesday when our correspondent visited the market. The pretty damsel, who is a 200L student of a foremost institution in the state, had come to the market to buy a laptop in preparation for her resumption in January. In tears, she explained to passersby who cared to listen that she innocently followed someone who promised to sell a laptop, not knowing the person was a fraud.
She said, “The moment I entered the market, some people started calling me from different directions to come and buy laptop, as if they knew what I wanted. One guy came to me and offered to take me to his shop, we kept walking down a narrow pathway, and as we progressed, other guys joined him and they jointly lured me to a corner, surrounded me and ransacked my bag.
“Before I knew what was happening, they had escaped and I had about N70,000 I wanted to use to buy a laptop in my bag. They also took my phone in the bag. It was after they left that I became conscious of what was happening.” Being a regular occurrence in the market, not many were moved by her story.
Apart from stealing and other forms of crime that go on unchecked in the market, piracy is also another business thriving in the market. Pirates or sellers of pirated items openly display their wares in the glare of everyone, including the various security agents who have offices in the market, whilst enjoying robust patronage from their teeming customers. This is independent of those who sell phones with candle wax in place of engine, thereby swindling unsuspecting customers.
The piracy business seems to be prevalent, and not even efforts by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria to sanitise the market of fake and substandard products had put an end to the menace.
For instance, when our correspondent asked to buy the original version of the Autocad software from a reputable shop in the premises, it was gathered that it costs about N60,000, but when our correspondent sought to buy the software from the people selling them on the street, it was sold for N200.
An IT expert explained that such is not good for the market and the economy at large. He added, “Some boys just sit down somewhere and unlock these softwares that take months to build all in a bid to make cheap money. It is unfair, but that is the reality. Government should be able to rid the market of these pirated items and punish the offenders.”
It is equally important to note that some entrepreneurs who specialise in importing unbranded phones that were built mainly from China also have their spaces in the market. One of them, who would not disclose her name, told our correspondent, “What I do is to order for phone from China and I tell them the specifications that I need and the name to write on it, which attracts a special cost and they deliver it to me. That is why you see all kinds of names on phones, and because of the cheap cost, people buy them.”
Apart from crime and piracy, tax evasion is another issue synonymous with the market. Even though the market was shut down sometime in 2008 over tax evasion, findings showed that a lot of revenues are still being lost by the government, mainly to hoodlums and some traders’ sharp practices.
Government as the culprit
Some experts have argued that the state government is to blame for the disorderly manner of the market, saying there were no adequate rules and regulations guiding conduct in the market. One of them said, “It is an all-comers affair and that is why the people on the street are more than those who have shops. And that is partly why part of the money that should go to the government ends up in the hands of those hoodlums that exploit the street traders. So, it is a loss of revenue for the government as well.”
This is perhaps the reason why the market is said to contribute only two per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, in spite of the fact that over N20m worth of phones and accessories are reportedly being sold in the market monthly.
It is in view of this that experts in the sector have called on the government to pay attention to the market so as to raise its contribution to the gross domestic product from the current two per cent to about five per cent.
The Lagos State government had said it would relocate the Computer Village to Katangowa Internet city in Oke Odo area of the state to make the place more accessible and bring about a more refined Internet city, but in the meantime, traders and these experts have called on the government to expedite action on relocating the traders due to the constraint of space and lawlessness in the market.
Pending the relocation, they called for the total overhauling of the market to reduce the incidence of crime, piracy and tax evasion in the market to enable genuine traders to make reasonable profit from their trade.
Speaking on the many issues bedeviling the market, the President of Computers and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Enamoh, lamented the low patronage in the market, adding that inadequate government intervention was to blame for the chaotic situation in the market.
He explained, “Government has not done anything to help us at all. The issues that affect us mainly are finances, which is the difficulty encountered by our members in accessing soft loans, low patronage, high rent and operating cost, especially cost of running generators.
“If you look at the crowd there, you tend to think the patronage would be very high but the truth is we have more of hustlers than real customers, and like 80 per cent of them are hoodlums. We have very few real hustlers. Among them, some would wish to rent a shop but they don’t have money, even those who get shops don’t have money to buy goods, and sometimes you have to pay through your nose to get a shop and keep it because we pay millions as rent.”
He noted that street trading had become the order of the day in the market because some government officials benefit from it.
He said, “Government is aiding them by collecting money from them. We have greedy officials from both state and local governments that come to exploit traders and collect money from them. They make huge sums of money from street traders, most of whom sell fake items.
“So, if the body that is supposed to drive them away from the street makes money from them, who does the job then? We spend days waiting to sell items, yet we pay bills; rent, local and state government taxes, etc.
“The relocation that the state government promised us has only been for campaign promises. It started during Tinubu’s second tenure, eight years of Fashola and now. The biggest achievement for us would be for us to be relocated to a place, where there is decorum, orderliness and no street trading.”
The CAPDAN boss noted that the market had not been maximising its potentials because of the many issues. He said, “Why should hoodlums be in charge of business of the day there, it is because government has gone to sleep. If the government knows what we ship into this country, including the duties, they should respect us based on that. It’s so painful. I just hope that God will answer our prayers one day.”
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, told our correspondent on the phone that the relocation of the village would be carried out this year, even though in phases. “However, the details will be unveiled through the ministry of physical planning and urban development as we settle properly into the new year,” he added.
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