Over the weekend, officials of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) alongside armed policemen took to the ever busy ‘Computer Village’ in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria’s largest tech hub, to flush out suspected fake phone dealers.
The raid led to a breakdown of law and order as the policemen were forced to use tear gas and shoot in the air sporadically to ward off attacks from traders, forcing an abrupt end to business activities.
Threats of a market closure surfaced later after a breakout of protest from members of the Phone and Allied Product Dealers Association of Nigeria (PAPDAN), the association of mobile phone dealers. The association claimed it will shut down operations for a period of three days.
The popular Ikeja Computer Village is recognised globally as the largest concentration of computers, software, mobile phones and phone accessories market in West Africa.[eap_ad_2]
The tech hub provides direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians and contributes about $2 billion to the Nigerian economy.
If PAPDAN make good of its threat, it would be a major blow to the business activities and trade margins for business owners who are just recovering from a three days compulsory shutdown which took place early this month to commemorate the death of the local traditional leader.
Business owners had complained bitterly on the negative effect of the exercise on their business, stating that millions of dollars are lost in potential sales and service revenue daily. Market closure also cost the government lost revenue in the term of tax returns.
In 2008, when the Lagos state government closed the market on N700 million tax evasion, it lost over N1 billion ($6.1 million). (VENTURES AFRICA)[eap_ad_3]