BATTA BOX VIDEO: Tour of China-Town in Nigeria... but where are all the Chinese people??

It's a large red-castle like building on the Lagos Mainland - and called the Lagos "ChinaTown"! BattaBox heads down there to find out exactly what is going on and if we can meet any of the Chinese business people to talk about their experience in Nigeria.

"Today we are in China!" laughs Odunayo. "My eyes are itching me and I want to feed my eyes!"


Every major city in the world has their own "China Town" where the local Chinese community will base their businesses and homes. And as China invests heavily in Africa in search of natural resources - so the community grows.

"The market is good but many people don't come because they say the Chinese do low-quality goods," says Faith who sells pants and bras for five years in the market. "I think some of it is good quality, some of it is bad quality."

"There is no market in this ChinaTown anymore," says Mrs Badmus who sells toys, shoes and baby cloth. "The reason is that immigration people disturb all the Chinese people so the market is not moving well anymore."

When the latest Chinese immigrants began to come to trade with Nigeria since the Chinese economic boom, many were poor and unable to speak good English - searching for any business opportunity abroad for import and export. And while Nigeria continues to do billion-dollar deals with Chinese officials, it appears to have cracked down on some of the poorer Chinese immigrants who often arrived with no paperwork.

... and so, we think that is one of the main reasons why we were unable to get any of the local Chinese people to talk to us!

"I just wakka tire!" saus Odunayo.

But there are still plenty of customers: "The goods are okay, good quality," says one woman.