Anambra traders have decried the use of Onitsha, Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Oyo and other major Nigerian commercial cities as dumping grounds for substandard tyres imported into the country.
Chief Igwe John Ezeoma, Chief of Staff to National President of Importers Association of Nigeria (IMAN), Hon. Kinsley Chikezie said the business is done by dubious foreign nationals in connivance with Nigerians.
He gave the hint on Saturday in Onitsha, Anambra State, while reacting to the spate of substandard tyres in the country and the effects to lives and property.
“These substandard tyres that you called “Tokumbo” are stuffed in bigger tyres and imported into Nigeria from China, India, Pakistan, Lebanon and Thailand by dubious foreign nationals and dumped in Lagos, Onitsha, Ibadan, Oyo, Kano and Edo warehouses,” Ezeoma said.
According to him, about 95 per cent of such importers are foreigners and IMAN Special Taskforce jointly with the police raided two of their warehouses, (Kamange) in Lagos and Edo.
He added that over 4,500 substandard tyres owned by a Chinese national, were dumped and they have been sealed by Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
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“We will soon raid the Onitsha Kamange warehouse located along Borromeo Onitsha/Enugu Old Road and others because these substandard tyres contribute mostly to the accidents on our roads,” Ezeoma said.
Ezeoma who exnanorated the association from accusation of bribery from dubious foreign nationals for substandard tyres, said “we are not in the business of give and take”
“It is greedy people like these foreign nationals that damage Nigerian economy. If it were in their own country that they commit this kind of thing, it is death sentence.
“What they do is get these substandard tyres, rebrand them to look new and genuine and they are stuffed in big tyres and imported into Nigeria.
“These tyres are the causes of the accidents recorded on daily basis in Anambra, look at the accidents that happened in Awka and Nkpor recently because of substandard tyres .
“These foreign nationals make a lot of money from Nigerians by importing expired and substandard tyres into Nigeria. They think they are smart but now that we are going after them, some have gone underground but that will not deter us because they have their agents.”
“Our members who aid them will not be spared because lives are being wasted when they are interested in making money,” he said.
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