After numerous pressure mounted on the government by local producers following the unprecedented suffocation of Cameroon’s markets by Nigerian products, the Ministry of Finance imposed a quadruple increase of tax on all goods entering the country from Nigeria. This means that all products from Nigeria especially dairy, beverages, canned, flour, among others, now pay four times the original amount on the same quantity of goods.
The move, according to a Custom Official, Mr. Gwet Guy David, is aimed at providing a level field for a competitive market between local and imported goods.
“Since most goods from Nigeria sell at very low prices, affecting the stability of the market price, this imposed additional tax will increase the prices of goods in the local market, hence, meeting up with the same amount a similar product made in Cameroon is sold,” Mr. Guy David opined.
To further strengthen the implementation of that measure, the Managing Director of Customs, Edwin Fongod Nuvaga, on August 16, 2016, signed a decision creating Operation HALCOMI (Halte Commerce Illicit), a robust task force with mission to dismantle any counterfeit goods entering the country from abroad. The force made up of the military, custom officials and officials from the Group of Managers in Cameroon (GICAM), operates in three zones in the country. Zone I comprise the Littoral, Northwest and Southwest Regions; Zone II made up of South, Centre and East Regions, and Zone III comprising Adamawa, North and Far North regions.
According to the Chief of Centre for Customs in Tiko, Mr Aboubakar Danglady, operation HALCOMI has intercepted so many illicit activities both off and onshore.
“They work round the clock inspecting all goods entering and leaving the country,” Mr Aboubakar said, adding that several illicit goods have been intercepted by the Operation with some destroyed and others allowed after imposed sanctions.
Ever since the task force went operational, prices of goods from Nigeria, have witnessed a sharp increase in the market. This, perhaps, explains why there is a drop in Nigerian products in the market.
However, many traders this reporter talked with, still prefer to sell these imported goods to those made in Cameroon. They say consumers buy more of the imported products than the local ones.
“I make more profit selling Canned Malta, or other products from Nigeria, than I sell those made in Cameroon,” Mm Eposi Cecilia, a retailer in Buea said.
Another business man in Tiko, Mr Eko Mwambo, complained that Cameroonian products are very expensive and complicated in the market compared to those from Nigeria.
“My weekly balance sheet shows more products from Nigeria sold than those from Cameroon” he added.
As the market wrestles continue between local and imported goods, the wish of consumers for the government to take decisions that will also be in their favour. Many prefer Nigerian products to Cameroon’s because they are cheap and affordable to the common man.
Genesis of the Matter
Goods from Nigeria recently witnessed an exponential increase in Cameroon’s market. Household beverages like milk, sugar, biscuits, and food supplements, canned drinks, among others, penetrated the local market faster than one could ever imagine. These goods, sold almost half their initial price, have been cherished by consumers in Cameroon than those produced in the country. For instance with just cfa 250 to 300, a Cameroonian can boast of a canned energy drink or food supplement unlike before when many went for locally made brewed products like Folere, or Foster Clarks.
These consumers have just been benefiting from the largesse of the recent inflation that hit the Nigerian economy leading to the devaluation of the Naira currency.
“Nigerian goods are enjoying the pride of place in Cameroon due to the present financial downturn in our country. This phenomenon has caused many Nigerian traders to comb for external markets out of the country which has stable currency.” Chidioke Afolahoh, a Nigerian business tycoon based in Tiko, explained.
The dramatic abduction of the Cameroon market by Nigerian goods according to a Buea based economist, Mr. Ngwamessia Joseph was gradually sending local producers, who have paid fabulous taxes out of market, and hence the need for the government to balance the price of products, irrespective of where they come from, was very important.
