Dealers at the popular Ikeja Computer Village reputed as West Africa’s largest market place for information technology products have continued to reel under the weight of economic downturn occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic. While a lot of other Nigerians in other sectors of the economy have only recently felt the full weight of the outbreak after a shutdown of economic activities was ordered by the Lagos State government and subsequently by the federal government, the computer village started feeling the pains in early January when the outbreak first hit China. This was even before it was pronounced as a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
In early January as coronavirus was spreading fast in the Chinese City of Wuhan and spreading into other cities in the communist country, the Chinese government quickly isolated and quarantined Wuhan and shut down factories across China. This was down to flatten the curve of the spread and stem the tide.
The implication for the dealers at Computer Village at that time was that they were unable to restock their inventories in January. Close to 100 percent of goods sold at the computer village come from factories in China and since there was a lockdown of some cities like Wuhan and shutdown of factories across China, there were unable to do business. What aggravated the problem was the fact that it was the beginning of the year and most of the dealers were yet to stock their shops. A lot of the dealers also made orders from Nigeria and couldn’t take delivery. A lot of delivers couldn’t also travel to China as a result of travel restrictions.
Unfortunately, as soon as life started returning to normalcy in China and a lot of factories were reopened, the virus crept into Nigeria, riding on the body of an Italian expatriate worker to Lagos. A number of Nigerians travelling around the world later came in with the virus. Subsequently, economic activities were shut down in the country and the dealers shuttered the village and went home with heavy heart, a lot of them cash strapped.
A lot of these dealers hardly have cash in hand. A lot of their money is tied down in factories in China while those that were lucky to have taken delivery before the crisis hit, have totally unsold stock in their shop. It was a crisis that has now hit both their source of importation and their market place to an unimaginable proportion.
One of the biggest problems that will be faced by these dealers when the pandemic subsides and the country returns to normalcy is that the Ikeja computer village will need months to return to normalcy and recoup its losses. Even after the shutdown ends, factories in China will have a lot of backorders to fulfill not just for Nigerian dealers and customers but different customers all over the world. This means that the dealers will have to wait longer to be able to get delivery of their goods.
Just as other Nigerians groan as the lockdown has caused untold hardship to families across the land, The Ikeja Computer Village dealers in particular have groaned longer and there is no doubt that they will groan even much longer that everyone else after all these go away.
–KELECHI OKORIE
