Market Nigeria...No.3

Nigeria is a country of 140 million people span over 36 state with at least 2 million people in each of its domination. It is by far the largest market in Africa with upside potential so huge that it threatens the local market. The span out nature of the market make it easy for any business to take roots in the country and survive positively, and for commodity market, Nigeria allows small businessed to operate at a profit. In times past, these commodity markets are realised to the condition of bad markets. It can equally be said that these locals survived through the years because of the great connection between one part of the country and the other. For instance, there is the case of people travelling to very parts of the country who engage in trade, people travelling from the South East of Nigeria, often head North for season markets, vice versa.


The old trade routes are still very visible from say a town called Abakiliki in the East of Nigeria through riverine choke ends and harsh tread fair towards parts of what is now Taraba states, and then into hilly crest of what is now Plateau state and then a rainbow displacement towards Niger state where the Nigerian middle belt is reached. From such congruent towns and cities of the Middle belt Nigeria, we head North into old City states that was once an empire, and then further into Northern Nigeria where several markets exist on its own. In times past, in those days leading to the arrival of the English in Nigeria, Igbos and other minorities found between the North and South, travel great into these areas. The Yorubas began to do the same after the wars of slave trade ended, and the Obas of Benin began to plot thier own penetration using military power to clear parts of what is now Niger from hoodlums that arrested and waylayed small businesses.


Northerners, who were mostly from 'Zaria' known entirely in the south east, often wonder how these people from agrarian Nigeria, could travel these long distances with thier food items. Cloth materials and Jewelry are non perishable but how did the Igbos and other minority traders make to the North without horses? Igbos did know how to answer, but some Northerners began to suspect that commodity traders from the South mastered for thier own comfort, the trade seasons in the North, as such sold goods from the East at any market and acquired the cheapest version commodity items of what is available, which was maintained by long distance travel and communication, and which they empty for sale in a distant market. And on and on. Some Hausas dubbed the Igbos cheats and eventually Christians (non Muslims), but what was not known is that these commodity traders seeking some form of survival in thier business, had began to lay the foundation for modern Nigerian markets.




From that time till now, it does appear that Nigeria had been destined by posterity to survive as distinct people, developing in its capacity from each other in degrees of isolation, and with enough empasis on the sorrounding environment. How this overnight travel to several parts of Nigeria gave birth to some theme market in Nigeria like Aba markets (Ariaria, Abayi Umuocham), Onitsha Main market, Calabar Market, Lagos, Sabon Gari, Zaria, Makurdi, Kafachan. Of which reasoning, the country is still a market in progress and a big one for that matter. Given the modern development of the Nigerian market in recent years and the consequent development of the global world, these areas of commodity interest will mean a different attitude towards the world.





Yet the lines of communication in 400 towns and cities in Nigeria, do the honors in helping to explain the difficult problems with Nigeria as a country and as an empire that refused to rise. For certain, it can be said that those willing to ply Nigerian market now and any time in future, should be looking to expand their tentacles accross the country, especially since these markets are evenly distributed in all these member states. In the stead of the common practice of travelling from Aba to Oshodi and vice versa, and taking advantage of any current market as you travel, you can begin to map the regional stores in and around country which might require huge investment, only through which distribution can be easily maintained on an even keel.





In many commodity markets of the world, Banks play a great role in helping their market. In Nigeria, the Influence of their banking sector and CBN does not serve as a magic wand for growth. The reasons are no where confirmed to expense ratio but the devices for business regulation is seriously under-developed. Much can said about the poverty of the Nigerian banking sector, and despite the reforms and progress of recent years, the industry will have a problem meeting the cut for the first 50 banking countries of the world. There is a serious breakdown in the control and command sector and index department. A country with only 25 banks is not likely to survive the tirade of foreign involvement, however big. If information is anything to go by, foreign banks that have useful interest in Nigerian banks have done but steal from the country. For instance, Banks from Lebanon and from parts of Syria has more than weakened Nigerian finances market, shrinking the commodity markets to a basket of waste.





Huge oil reserves in Nigeria is for now her only bait for foreign businesses, but like countries of the world, oil reserves does not wager for any sort of economic growth. Energy demand world wide means that natural gas and oil receives an immediate attention. As often as we have come to accept investing in a rush, that attention driven investment sometimes shore off other avenues of wealth, leaving in its wake excess money in circulation. Money is still carelessly spun around the country, giving the false impression of success when it is largely not the case.





Given the weak infrastruction of the country and other under developed structure of its stock economy, banks in the last two decades have consistently outperformed other futures in the Nigerian stock exchange. In dollar terms, this is not much. It is perhaps surprising how Nigerian small businesses have managed to hang in there against the weight of Federal Government sponsored co-operations and her Armada of foreign energy investors. These foreign legions sometimes ignore such possibility as overkill, wonting from huge linear capital investment in liquidity markets. That is, pouring huge capital investment investment in one area like oil production. Hence the weight of foreign investment in Nigeria is of a darkly kind, since the poverty of its productive industries are quite evident, and when set against the recent trade deficit of the years, the market usually spurn an overreaction.





For instance, oil boom in the years 2002-2008, Nigerian markets experienced useful growth and with that growth, it experienced the problems of inflation. There is enough money in circulation, but it can only achieve little, and that by market standard is a symptom of underdeveloped economic structure and an insight into how to positively exploit the market. The Nigerian market is suffering a peculiar sickness of stagnation, which is familiar to many third countries of the world with energy related cash crop, all the more severe for Nigeria since the huge potential to move on is estranged. For that stagnation and poor market direction, the commodity market suffers.





Transitional strategy is a constant mobility exchange concerning a country's ability and inability over a given time to improve the lot of small business incorperated in the country. In other words, it is a process of guaging how quickly a country can transform its small businesses from level of economic class to another and how the private citizens responds to such shift. In any economy in world, this attempt is scary stiff and when it succombs to its inabilities and inaccuracies, it eventually sponsor a culture of naive investing and rip off, and sometimes inflation. Such excesses attract financial 'vultures' from all over the world, bringing the doom much closer to the poor people whose Banking structure can neither protect nor retain the survival of their market.