Federal Government loses about N15 billion annually to Inferior Imports.

The Federal Government loses about N15 billion annually to fake and substandard products in the country, the organised private sector (OPS) has said. President of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Tony Ejinkeonye, in a chat with New Telegraph, said that the high rate of substandard goods in the country was killing the growth and development of local industries. He said over 80 per cent of inferior goods were in Nigerian markets as against 20 per cent of substandard imported goods found in other developed economies.
The ACCI boss said that the high rate of substandard goods in the country was killing the growth and development of local industries. Ejinkeonye said that the small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) were more affected as they suffered massive losses due to the influx of bad products into the country.
He lamented that the influx of inferior goods was affecting the growth and development of the local industries. Ejinkeonye said: “Nigerian economy and local industries have been suffering due to the rise of substandard goods in the Nigerian market, 80 per cent of products imported into Nigeria are substandard, this has led to the Nigerian market having over 80 per cent of inferior goods as against 20 per cent, which is obtainable in other developed countries.
“In our local industries, most genuine business enterprises put in efforts and strive to make quality products with standards, but at the end of the day, consumers prefer to purchase substandard goods at a cheaper rate, rather than going for the standard ones due to high cost of production and certification of the goods.
Consequently, the genuine industries with standard goods cannot sell. This has affected their growth and has also translated to loss of jobs and reduction in tax paid to government.”
He noted that the nation’s SMEs sector, accounts for over 90 per cent of the Nigerian manufacturing sector and currently has 22 million operators operating in the sector. Ejinkeonye explained that the SMEs had been known as the engine of growth of every economy, adding that SMEs had been an avenue to alleviate poverty, create wealth and food security in the country.
The ACCI president stressed that many local businesses had gone into extinction due to their inability to sell their products, adding that this was the bane of development of the SMEs sector.
He said that Nigeria is now in the era of diversification of her economy as a result of dwindling of oil prices at the international market. Ejinkeonye noted that small businesses were established daily and most of the enterprises were more interested in selling of their goods and making quick profits than producing standard goods.
He said: “Fake products kill our local industries by reducing the trust of consumers in local products. This is because most consumers already have the mindset that whatever product made in Nigeria is substandard, so they prefer to buy foreign goods.” The president said that most of the local industries had resorted to moving out of the country to where their products could compete with other products.