A fresh dispute between Nigerian traders and Chinese businesses at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex has opened a wider debate over how far foreign investors should participate in Nigeria’s retail economy.
A leading economic think tank, the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), on Sunday called for tighter enforcement of business permits and expatriate quotas to protect local players in the market.
The dispute erupted this week after traders at the complex protested the alleged move by some Chinese businesses from wholesale into direct retailing, accusing them of competing for customers in a market traditionally dominated by Nigerian retailers.
The traders have stressed that their objection is not to Chinese investment or the presence of Chinese businesses in Nigeria, but to foreign wholesalers and manufacturers selling directly to consumers in the same market.
That concern has now been echoed at the policy level by CPPE, which said the growing participation of foreign nationals in retail and distributive trade could put pressure on Nigerian businesses and employment.
Nigeria’s distributive trade sector accounts for an estimated 27.5 per cent of the country’s workforce, according to CPPE, making the dispute significant beyond the immediate conflict at the Lagos market.
In the statement signed by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Muda Yusuf, CPPE said the concern was not about Chinese investment itself, describing China as one of Nigeria’s most important trading partners.
Rather, it objected to what it described as the movement of some foreign suppliers downstream into retail activities where Nigerians already have substantial capacity.
“A situation where overseas manufacturers or major suppliers sell products to Nigerian importers and distributors, and subsequently establish operations that compete directly with those same businesses at the retail end of the market, creates legitimate concerns about market structure and fair competition,” CPPE said.
The Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board has meanwhile said the concerns over fair competition, market access and regulatory compliance deserve attention, while maintaining that Nigeria must remain open to legitimate foreign investment.
The controversy comes as China remains Nigeria’s leading import partner, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), with manufactured goods alone accounting for N7.51 trillion in imports in Q1 2025.
NBS data further shows that Nigeria imported goods worth N11.01 trillion from China in the first half of 2026, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of the country’s N28 trillion import bills.
The immediate dispute therefore points to a larger question for Nigeria’s investment policy on how to preserve the benefits of foreign capital and supply chains without allowing foreign participation to crowd out domestic businesses in sectors where Nigerians already have substantial capacity.
