How We Built Africa’s Largest Tyre Market Without Banks’ Support
NIGERIA might no longer play host to the
heavyweights in global tyre manufacturing, but
she may have the biggest tyre market in Africa,
The Guardian investigations have revealed.
Nestled in the heart of the International
Trade Fair Complex in Badagry, Lagos,
the market, known as Africa Tyre
Village, The Guardian learnt, receives all
tyre shipment into Nigeria through Lagos
ports — as local production collapsed
since 1980s — and boasts of all types of
the product in abundant supply.
It reportedly offloads about 30, 40-feet
containers every week and serves the
entire Nigerian tyre market, with
customers stretching as far as Maiduguri,
Onitsha and Kano.
The market, run by the Association of
Nigeria Tyre Marketers (ANTM), is the
remnant of a once thriving tyre
manufacturing industry, which was run
aground by failing electricity supply in
late 1980s, chief among other
operational challenges. The tyre
companies have since relocated to other
African countries. Though the rubber
plantations, which served as livewire to
the companies, are said to be
quarantined in different parts of the
country, it is still uncertain when the
industry would come alive again.
But, unperturbed by the circumstance,
the marketers have cashed in on the exit
of the manufacturers to look for supplies
elsewhere, majorly in Dubai and China,
and are supporting Nigeria’s transport
system, where almost all haulage and
logistic enterprise leverage the roads,
which consequently assures a deep
appetite for tyres and trucks. Nigeria’s
high vehicular density also adds to the
need for more tyres.
When Nigeria was a tyre manufacturing
hub, our products were the best you
could find around. Then the Babangida
administration around 1983 supported
Dunlop with some money and they
produced a product known as Dunlop
elite, which was arguably the best tyre in
the world at the time. But the company
collapsed due to lack of power. Power is
the main production input in tyre
manufacturing. If generators were used
in the production, the tyres wouldn’t be
of acceptable quality. The best tyres are
manufactured when there is direct
supply from the public source
When The Guardian visited the ‘village’
recently, truckloads of tyres of different
sizes were being offloaded into shops
and traders made brisk business, as
apprentices cleared orders. Though some
shops were locked in the more than
1000-lockup shop capacity arena, those
open for business were stocked to the
brim and were attended to by young,
energetic traders.
Traders say though the roads leading to
the market may be bad, they now mostly
take orders via phone calls as they have
built a relationship with customers from
their days at Lagos Island.
The secretary of ANTM, Lawal Sefiu
Olaiya, said that the association felt that
it was unsafe to continue trading at its
former site at Lagos Island, which was a
street market and wasn’t conducive for
customers. He said there was little space
and apprentice graduate every year and
wouldn’t be able to fit into the small
space in the heart of Lagos.
“At a point, we decided to get a
permanent site, where will have
everything we need, including parking
lots and loading spaces. After some trials
and errors, we got this place and started
building it,” he said.
According to him, “we didn’t seek
assistance from any bank; we built it
from our sweat. There are a total of 1000
lockup shops and about 30 personal
plazas, owned by individuals. The
personal plazas surround the shops.
There are different phases too. There is
the unity block, which was the first to be
built and has about 432 blocks. When we
finished the first phase, many of our
people the leaders of the association at
Lagos Island moved to this place so as to
fast track the development here. When
we finish the second one, we expect
many more of our members to move
here.”
He said the association allocated some
500 shops to its members, as well as,
stakeholders and investors in August,
explaining that the investors bought
shops and gave them out to people on
rent. “Most of them are not members,
but when they heard we were building
this, they invested. Some of the locked
shops in the market belong to investors
who are looking for people who would
rent the shops,” he said.
Asked how the traders sourced their
wares, he said the products were
imported, as the two local tyre
manufacturing companies, Dunlop and
Michelin, closed shop a long time ago,
because of epileptic power supply in the
country.
“Dunlop has moved its machines to
South Africa and brings tyres to the
country. Michelin has moved to
neighbouring countries, such as Ghana,
Algeria and others. There is a Michelin
Distributor Store (MDS) in Nigeria, where
distributors in Nigeria go to buy their
products. They still have their office here
where they store tyres. It is just that they
don’t produce here anymore.
“The same thing applies to Dunlop.
Whoever wants to be their dealer goes to
their office at Ikeja, where they have a
store. For now, there is no tyre
production in Nigeria, maybe there
might be changes as we are experiencing
improved power supply in the country,
but at the moment there is nothing like
that,” he said.
Continuing, he said, “We import our
wares from China. We used to go to
Dubai because it is a free trade zone.
Another reason for going to Dubai is
because their government subsidizes
their goods, so they come cheaper. Some
of our people go to Dubai to buy assorted
goods, that is, tyres of any brand. But
when we go to China, it is the exact
product we order that we get. Most of
tyres in the market are from China. But,
at the same time, we have some
authentic tyres, such as Bridgestone,
Firestone, Michelin and Dunlop.”
On whether the premises qualified for
the label as Africa’s largest tyre village,
he said it well deserved the tag because
of the volume of wares and the reach of
the market.
He said, “This place, indeed, is Africa’s
largest market because all Nigeria-bound
containers bearing tyres berth and are
cleared in the ports in Lagos. They are
brought to this market to offload their
wares. In a week, we offload more than
30 40-feet containers. It is from here that
we distribute to our people in Onitsha,
Kano, Maiduguri, Kwara State and
others. We do waybill to them and
everybody has their customers in these
places. This is the centre of tyre business
in Nigeria.
But the association is not without
challenges, as they have had to lock
horns with some people our control of
Nigeria’s tyre market
According to him, “There was a time
some so-called expatriates formed
themselves into a group and went to the
Federal Government seeking for
concessions to manufacture tyres in
Nigeria, on the condition that they would
be allowed to import tyres freely for
some time.
They just needed import waiver. At that
time, we wrote to the government on the
consequences of such action. We told
them that if expatriates get hold of the
market, we would be kicked out of
business. I think the Federal Government
saw reasons with us and stayed action
on the matter.”
Noting that the possibility of tyre
manufacturers returning to the country
depended on how fast government would
revamp power supply in the country, he
said the major companies still had their
rubber plantations quarantined and
should resume production if the coast is
clear and machines are brought back to
the country.
According to him, “When Nigeria was a
tyre manufacturing hub, our products
were the best you could find around.
Then the Babangida administration
around 1983 supported Dunlop with
some money and they produced a
product known as Dunlop elite, which
was arguably the best tyre in the world
at the time. But the company collapsed
due to lack of power. Power is the main
production input in tyre manufacturing.
If generators were used in the
production, the tyres wouldn’t be of
acceptable quality. The best tyres are
manufactured when there is direct
supply from the public source.
“They preserve the rubber plantations.
Michelin’s plantation at Port Harcourt
and Ore are under preservation. The
ones they use for production in other
countries are tapped from the
plantations here. This is because the
rubber sourced from Nigeria is better
than those gotten in other African
countries. Tomorrow, if these companies
want to resume production, they can just
go back to the rubber plantations. But,
first, we have to fix power in Nigeria.”
He said there are huge opportunities for
tyre trading in the country, stressing,
“the market for tyres is still very large in
Nigeria due to the decay in rail
transportation. Ordinarily, heavy
equipment ought to be transported via
trains. But since the infrastructure is
lacking, they have to be transported on
road, which means even the trailers that
transport them need tyres to run.”
He noted that the success of the business
was as a result of the transparency of
the association leaders, who had, over
time, fought for equity and fairness in
dealings with all members, irrespective
of tribe or association.
“It was a result of transparency and
diligence that we are here today. Many
people started projects at this park
before us. Today, we are ahead of them.
We are sub lessors here. The
concessioner, who got the land from the
Federal Government, was very
cooperative when he gave us this
location. And we were very open with
our members, all of whose contributions
was used to build this place. Whenever
anyone completes their contribution, we
give them their allocation letter and
when the shop is ready, we hand it over
to them. We distributed the lands by
balloting,” he added.
One of the traders, Iloh Nicholas, who is
a distributor for a company, said the
move to Trade Fair complex was a wise
one for the association and that sales
have been impressive since his coming to
the new site.
According to him; “Business has been
good. We are selling, as would a new
market. In fact, we are surprised at our
sales so far.”
He noted that though customers complain
of bad roads, he said they got around the
challenge by deploying their own
vehicles to deliver supplies.
Another trader said she got a shop when
the association moved to the complex
and has not been disappointed with the
pace of sales.
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