Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Lagos State Police Command has vowed to arrest the organisers of a protest by Nigerian traders at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex against the alleged expansion of Chinese merchants into retail trading, describing the demonstrators as a handful of "miscreants" and "disgruntled fellows" whose actions threatened the peace of the market.
The protest, which took place on Monday, September 14, 2026, saw traders at the complex along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway gather with placards bearing messages including "Chinese must go," "They should go far from our market environment and not be taking our customers," and "This is a peaceful protest." The traders said their action was driven by concerns over the alleged involvement of Chinese businesses in retail trading, which they claimed was affecting their businesses and threatening their survival.
One of the protesters explained the economic grievance at the heart of the demonstration. "We no longer make sales," he said. "If you import goods, they slash their prices lower than our own and sell to our customers." The trader alleged that some Chinese businesses had rented shops and built warehouses within the complex, where they sold goods directly to consumers. He further alleged that some of the businesses obtained customers' telephone numbers from waybills and contacted them to sell their goods directly. According to the protesters, their concerns were specifically about the alleged competition with Nigerian traders and not a call for attacks on Chinese nationals or the destruction of their businesses. "If any of us spoils anything here, the person will pay for it. We are not saying we are going to beat the Chinese or spoil their warehouse," the trader said.
The protest was later suspended following interventions by the leadership of the Traders Association, local government officials, and the police. The Secretary of the Traders Association in the complex, Juventus Okpala-Okaka, said the association had received complaints from youths in the market over the activities of Chinese merchants and subsequently set up a committee to investigate the matter. He said the youths nevertheless commenced the protest, prompting the association to invite their representatives to a meeting with its president, who appealed to them to suspend the action while the committee addressed their grievances. A meeting was held on Tuesday involving the committee, the protesters' representatives and the association's executives, where significant progress was made towards resolving the dispute.
However, the police response has drawn sharp criticism. The Area 'E' Commander of the Lagos State Police Command, ACP Chike Oti, who spoke on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, Tijani Fatai, said at a briefing on Tuesday that the protest was the handiwork of a few miscreants and that arrests would be made. "What happened was the handwork of a few miscreants, few disgruntled fellows in the market. A handful of them that went the other way. And they have been cautioned and arrests will be made as soon as possible," Oti said. He assured Nigerians and foreign investors that there was peace, security and tranquillity within the complex, stating that there had been no fight at the market.
The briefing was attended by the Chairman of Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, Prince Lanre Sanusi, officials of the Auto Spare Parts and Machinery Dealers Association, other security agencies, and representatives of the Chinese community. The President of ASPMDA, Nnamdi Ngozi Emechebe, described the incident as a minor protest which was immediately brought under control. The Amuwo-Odofin council chairman said security agencies, including the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Immigration Service, were at the market to assess the situation, adding that there was no problem between Nigerian and Chinese traders operating in the market. A representative of the Chinese community in ASPMDA also said Chinese traders were continuing their businesses peacefully in the market.
The police's decision to label the protesting traders as miscreants and threaten them with arrest has raised troubling questions about whose interests the state security apparatus is protecting. The traders are not criminals. They are business owners who are watching their livelihoods evaporate because foreign competitors, with access to cheaper imports and lower operational costs, are undercutting them in the very market they built. Their protest was peaceful. Their placards were not inflammatory. Their demands were economic, not xenophobic. Yet the police response was not to mediate the dispute or investigate the traders' grievances. It was to threaten them with arrest. The message is unmistakable: the state is more concerned with protecting foreign investors than with protecting Nigerian businesses.
The economic context of the protest is critical. Local traders and distributors are concerned that Chinese manufacturers and wholesalers are bypassing traditional supply chains by opening direct retail outlets within local markets. As Martin Nworah noted in a Facebook post, the entire trading model in these markets is based on the middleman, and once the wholesaler becomes the middleman, the retailer is edged out. The Chinese wholesalers have direct access to low-interest credit from home and can afford to import more, sell for less, and capture the market easily. If this trend continues, local traders will not survive. Nworah advised local traders to explore partnerships and move into manufacturing rather than rely solely on protests, but the traders' immediate concern is survival.
The broader implications for Nigeria's economy are significant. The protest reflects a growing frustration among Nigerian traders that they are being squeezed out of their own markets by foreign competitors who enjoy structural advantages. The government has a responsibility to create a level playing field, enforce regulations governing foreign participation in retail trade, and protect local businesses from unfair competition. Instead, the police have chosen to criminalise the protest and threaten the protesters with arrest.
As the 2027 elections approach, the treatment of these traders will be remembered. The government cannot claim to be pro-business while allowing foreign retailers to dominate local markets and then arresting the Nigerians who complain. The Chinese community has a right to do business in Nigeria, but that right must not come at the expense of Nigerian traders. The police have promised that arrests will be made. The question is whether those arrests will be of the traders who protested, or of the foreign businesses that are allegedly violating Nigeria's retail trade regulations. For now, the traders have suspended their protest, but their grievances remain unresolved. The market is calm, but the frustration is simmering. And the government's decision to prioritise the protection of foreign investors over the survival of Nigerian businesses will not be forgotten.
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