By Andy Asemota
The Senate on Thursday warned that Nigeria can’t continue to leave indigenous retailers at the mercy of foreign manufacturing companies shifting from production to retail sector in the country.

The Red Chamber also mandated its committee on trade and investment to examine the extant policy and legal framework on retail trade in Nigeria and the protection offered to indigenous retail investors.

It also charged the committee to invite foreign retailers to ascertain their legal status and engage other relevant stakeholders on ways to further protect local retailers.

This followed a motion to investigate the economic and security implications of a unregulated Nigerian retail sector and also consider appropriate legislative measures to “incentivize  and protect indigenous retail traders.”

Accordingly, the Senate urged the federal government to review the Indigenization Act among others and stressed the need for acceptable measures to protect traditional or open market retailers to avoid contravention of health and environmental safety standards, promote revenue collection.

Presenting the lead debate on the motion, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (Anambra South) noted that apart from offering employment to Nigerians and providing revenue to government, the Nigeria retail business landscape had other immense economic and security implications in need of ideal policy and regulatory measures.

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“Many African countries including ECOWAS member states such as Ghana have policy and legislative measures in place to offer minimum protection to indigenous retail traders, in the case of Nigeria, however, extant policy and legal framework at both national and sub-regional levels do not offer any minimum protection to indigenous retail business operators,” Ubah lamented.