MGBOJI KELECHUKWU went digging in Lagos controversial markets. He came back with helpful tips for fraud victims and potential victims.
ON a daily basis, billions of naira change hands in Lagos open markets. But the majority of these cash transactions are done with avoidable losses and regrets to first-time customers who, more often than not, fall victim of sharp practices at the hands of shrewd but unscrupulous traders in the state.
From Alaba International Market to Alaba-Rago in Ojo, Auto Parts Market, Ladipo, Mushin, as well as Oshodi down to the popular Idumota and Balogun markets on the Island, stories of cheap rip-off aren’t abating, so much so that some of the markets now evoke disturbing sense of deceit and distrust.
In some of the markets, it is very common to see errand boys and girls who do not own a shop but make more money than business owners whose wares they sell not only on a commission basis but also in excess of the actual prices. Through this means, some individuals who sojourned to this sprawling city of commerce and industry have risen with bare hands to become successful entrepreneurs. Every market in Lagos has its fair share of errand boys milling around the shops in search of easy prey. Their art in trade is to pretend to be rendering help to the customer. But they are really after whatever they can eke out from you. They are usually the first to approach prospective customers for patronage.
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Going to Alaba International Market?
At the Alaba International Market, a customer can get anything he wishes to buy ranging from electronics and electrical appliances to fancy furniture, building materials, home appliances, cosmetics, machines and heavy equipment. There are over 15 sections of the market that constitute a convenient hold-all for anything marketable either as new, fairly used (otherwise called tokunbo) or outright scraps. In the market, you can buy very cheap and, in fact, sell for twice the cost price.
For this reason, thousands of customers that daily throng the market from every part of Nigeria and beyond have come to see it as a place of tremendous opportunities. And indeed, it has made diligent, resourceful individuals great just as it ruined those who threw caution to the wind.
Chief Paul Chukwuka, a trader in the market, reminisced about the good old, golden days of Alaba Market. “About 40 years ago, when we came to the market as little boys, if a customer forgot his or her goods after a purchase and came back the next day, he was sure to recover them,” he said.
He said such level of trust and honesty was the secret behind the quick growth of the market ahead of others which started even earlier. Today, things are no longer the same like every aspect of the larger society.
Thus, in recent years, a first-time customer who goes to the market to buy one thing or the other unassisted by a reliable person in the market will likely go away with some unpleasant experience. In fact, over 90 per cent of people who go to the market for the first time get less than they bargain for.
Victims
Onyema Ohuka, a Lagos resident, went to buy a 32-inch TV and got swindled by a cartel that specialised in selling damaged TV sets in the name of non-tested electronic products. He told Saturday Tribune of how the leader of the cartel had approached him and persuaded him to see their latest stock of TV sets just brought in from overseas. According to the victim, the trader had promised to give him the best of his preferred TV brand and he followed him to their open arena where he selected one of the non-tested TV sets with the hope that he would fix the set with little money.
“We agreed to N35,000 for the LED TV set wrapped in transparent nylon. After I paid, he asked one of his boys to take me to a TV technician for testing and possible repairs. It was the technician that confirmed that the screen was damaged, and that I would spend as much money to change the damaged screen as in buying another fairly-used TV. He advised me to return it for possible replacement.
“When I returned it, I was asked to make the money up to N45,000 for another set. I agreed but I was eventually given another TV set with poor visual quality. I rejected it but they refused to refund my money. After much disagreement, the trader asked me to come back in a week’s time when new stock would be available for possible replacement. Afraid I might lose my money, I decided to take the TV set with poor visual quality. Less than two months later, the screen went bad. I could not get any technician to fix it,” Onyema narrated.
In another incident late last year, a Lagos State University undergraduate, Kabiru Bankole, narrated how he bought a fairly used laptop for about N30,000 only to discover that some of the important features of the laptop had been removed, leaving him with no choice but to return it.
“When I returned it, I was told to add more money for a replacement. I ended up paying more than the price I was initially offered at some other shops I had visited,” said Kabiru.
Chairman, Alaba Electronics Dealers Association, reacts
In a recent encounter, the Chairman, Electronics Dealers Association, Ichie Fabian Ezeorjika, told Saturday Tribune that measures had been taken to sanitise the electronics section of the market which is notorious for swindling customers.
According to him, the union has set up a task force for sanctioning any acts of fraud or disservice against customers in the market. He said the measure was in realisation of the dangers of losing prospective customers to competing markets and trading platforms, especially the online retail platforms which are getting increasingly popular.
“We have made it a punishable offence to treat customers with disrespect and deceit. Any of our members found guilty faces the risk of heavy fine after restoring whatever he may have obtained from the customer fraudulently. Our next line of action is to give publicity to the measures we are taking to restore confidence of the buying public in the market. We want to assure customers out there that things have changed for good,” the chairman said.
Mr Adegoke Ogunjimi, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Gugotec Technical Company, a fast-growing small and medium enterprise (SME) electronics engineering firm reputed for fixing any kind of fault with TV sets, admitted in an interview that most people do have cases in the electronics section.
“In our section in Alaba, most people do have cases and they would take them to the union. But for me, I have never got any union case. The only customer that reported me to the union was the one that requested me to undo the job I did because he refused to pay me the amount of money we had agreed on after repairing his 32-inch LED TV.
“He told the union’s task force that I spent little time working on the set and charged him so much money. He, therefore, asked me to damage the job I had done. For insisting that I would not spoil the work I had done for him, he took me to the union. My case had never been to the union and the union told him that I had never had any issue in this market before. When they heard the case, they told him to pay me. This made me so popular, and that was how I won the best technician award three consecutive times,” Ogunjimi narrated.
Ezeorjika, who doubles as the coordinator of the Alaba Amalgamated Council of Sectional Heads, also told Saturday Tribune that Alaba market was made up of about 15 sections and not all the sections had the problem of cheating prospective customers.
“In the electrical section of the market where I am the leader, the only problem we had was standardization of electrical materials which our association, Electrical Dealers Association of Nigeria (EDAN), has since addressed. To guarantee quality and eliminate fake products, we had to partner with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON). They visited our market to enlighten our members on the need to bring in standard, quality products. We have made it mandatory that every importer of electrical materials like cable, for instance, must register and have SON CAP.
“When you register and have SON CAP, it shows that the quality of the product is certified OK. But when a customer buys it and comes back to lodge a complaint about the product, the association takes up the case against the owner of the product.
“Besides, we have Standards Committee which is in control of products’ standard in the market. The objective is to make sure that our members deal on quality products that meet the expectations of customers,” Ezeorjika stated.
On how EDAN treats customers’ complaints, he said the association’s task force was saddled with the responsibility of resolving all complaints.
Alaba-Rago, home of stolen bikes?
Alaba-Rago, as it is popularly called, is a segment and an adjoining market that shares many features with Alaba International Market. It is located off Okomaiko-Badagry Expressway. Largely dominated by traders from the northern part of the country as well as foreigners from neighbouring African countries, it is the market of choice when looking for where to buy foodstuffs and livestock at affordable prices.
But it is also home to disused scraps and heavy machinery that get refurbished and then sold to unsuspecting customers. Sometimes goods and products of questionable origin end up in Alaba-Rago, a case the market leadership said they had been confronting head-on with appropriate disciplinary sanctions.
On a fact-finding visit recently, Saturday Tribune discovered thriving motorcycle dealership where popular brands of motorcycles are on display for sale at prices that depend on the condition of the motorbike and ownership source as either genuine or suspicious. Motorcycles of questionable ownership don’t usually get displayed openly and those who buy them know where and how to get them.
Emmanuel Onuekwuesi who once lived very close to Alaba-Rago told Saturday Tribune that most of the fairly used motorcycles in the market are stolen and a good number of them end up in the North where the suspects come from. Onuekwuesi narrated how the suspects ferry the motorcycles across to their home state from Lagos using some of the popular road transport companies.
According to him, any of those motorcycles whose ignition shakes when being unlocked indicates that the motorcycle could have been unlocked with excessive force. “That is a clue as to whether it is stolen or not,” Onuekwuesi stated.
He disclosed that dealers in illicit goods have stores where they pack their goods and from those stores, they move the goods to locations where it would be difficult to trace them.
When Saturday Tribune visited, head of the Alaba Rago Market community, Alhaji Umaru Sokoto, was not available. But in an interaction with some of the market leaders who didn’t want to be quoted because they were not authorised to speak, it was gathered that activities of suspected criminals are on the decline with the setting up of security task force to arrest suspects.
It was learnt that suspected sellers of stolen goods are handed over to the police by the market task force.
“Anytime bad people (thieves) bring bad market (stolen items) here, the task force members will report to Seriki. They will go and arrest them,” one of the market stakeholders disclosed.
According to him, one of the criminals caught recently was an 18-year-old boy. He said that the security guards at the market had arrested many and handed them over to the police, stressing that the guards were always on patrol day and night to keep criminals at bay.
However, the contact person, who is a market leader, advised Saturday Tribune to see the Seriki (traditional head of the market) for further clarification. But on a repeat visit to the market, the Seriki was said to have gone to Ikeja for a meeting.
Chaos or trading?
Chaos seems a permanent feature of the market where traders have effectively occupied the median of the highway under construction.
Apart from taking effective occupation of the road median, the traders have erected makeshift stalls on one side of the road, making free flow of traffic extremely difficult. Motorists spend hours on traffic trying to pass through the traffic logjam. Hundreds of motorcyclists, all seeking to pass through the small space at once, reinforce the traffic chaos. The police were said to have lost the battle to instil some sanity in the area, and now everyone operating in the area appears to be above the law. It is a common sight to see them obstructing traffic.
To make matters worse, the entire market is reeking of filth and dirt from the entrance to the end of the road adjoining Alaba International. The traders have since come to terms with the filth and squalor.
Dark inside of Articles Shopping Complex
Saturday Tribune’s investigation also revealed illicit operations similar to those at Alaba-Rago going on at the articles market located beside Under-Bridge, Trade Fair Bus Stop, Mile 2-Badagry Expressway.
A reliable source who stumbled on the Articles Shopping Complex revealed that a cartel which specialised in trading in stolen motorcycles, had stock of used motorcycles at the complex.
Our source who did not want his name in print said, “I did not know that such a place existed until I lost my motorcycle in December 2016. A sympathiser advised me to go to the complex pretending to be a prospective buyer. He said I might stumble on my motorcycle. When I got there and told them that I wanted to buy a fairly used bike, they took me to a store. For about two minutes, I could not see anything. There was no light.
“When visibility improved, I could not find my motorbike. But I told them I didn’t like any of the available ones. They opened yet another store and asked me to select from those ones which they said were all less than six months old. Though I was not going to buy, we opened a bargain. I was asked to pay N160,000 for one the motorbikes looking very clean and sound. I offered to pay N120,000. We didn’t agree on the price. So, I left. But every motorbike at the place was new,” said the source.
General electrical dealers
The general electrical dealers consist of those dealing in cable, wires, electric transformers and some other expensive electricity materials which are largely found in Alaba International Market, along the highway between Ojo Military Barracks and Volkswagen Bus Stop on Mile 2-Badagry Expressway.
Saturday Tribune’s investigation revealed various underhand dealings whereby some dealers infringe on brand integrity of a popular transformer brand whose Nigeria offices are located in Ikeja and Abuja.
Investigation further revealed that some dealers occasionally refurbish old, broken-down transformers and sell them with the brand logo of the Ikeja-based foreign company whose transformers are highly sought after. Some of the transformer dealers have had weighty issues to resolve with customers in recent times.
Three middlemen could be involved in selling a single transformer to a customer. When issues arise from such a sale, all would have disappeared with the proceeds, leaving the owner to fix the issue alone. In most cases, the result is that it takes a long time for the issue to be resolved, setting them on collision course with customers. Recently, the transformer dealers decided to float an association in order to forge a common front to protect their business interest.
Franchise owner speaks
When Saturday Tribune visited the Ikeja office of the company whose brand logo was infringed upon, the public relations officer said they were aware of the activities of unscrupulous dealers trying to clone their transformer product but pleaded that their company’s name not be mentioned in the publication.
Pleading anonymity, the PRO disclosed that the company had embarked on media campaign in recent time to educate customers to buy their genuine products from certified partners. According to her, all genuine transformer products manufactured by their global parent company abroad come with a code which customers could use to authenticate the products by sending it to them online for confirmation.
She stated that it was not enough to rely on a brand logo that looks and feels like a genuine product. “Make sure the label or packaging provides the manufacturer’s name and contact details. Avoid no-name products and those sold by unauthorised sellers,” the company warned prospective customers in a campaign flyer.
Transformer dealers dodge
Efforts to get the convener of Transformer Dealers Association to comment yielded no result. The dealer and acting chairman of the association refused to respond to inquiries and subsequently stopped picking phone calls all together after failing to keep several appointments he scheduled.
We know traders are funny but… –Lagos govt
The General Manager, Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA), Mrs Oluwakemi Olugbode, said the agency was not oblivious of the activities of such traders, especially at big markets like Alaba International.
“Yes, those traders can be funny but we have our own way of dealing with the situation. What we do is to engage the executives of such markets whenever we get such complaints. There is one we are dealing with now. It concerns a church and one of the traders in Alaba Market. The church had gone to buy a big mixer worth about N1 million from a trader in the market. The trader had claimed that the equipment was brand new only for it to stop working after a few weeks of use. The trader was alerted and he sent a technician who insisted on collecting some money before fixing it.
“The trader said he would have to share the cost of the repairs with the church, a development that angered the church. All attempts to make the trader see reason failed before the matter was brought to the agency.
“Initially, he was evasive, so the agency had to go through the market executive committee. The day he saw us with the executives, he became humble. He apologised and was asked to fix the mixer,” Mrs Olugbode narrated.
The LASCOPA boss, however, stated that complaints to the agency from that market were not frequent. She reiterated the agency’s commitment to providing consumers in the state with adequate protection against unwholesome products and services.
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