Aisha AdejumoTrouble is brewing for a Chinese supermarket in Abuja after reports surfaced that they’ve been stopping Nigerian customers from shopping there. Nigerians are very angry about this, and Ogunwatch looked into the story.
According to Ogunwatch, the supermarket, which is located near the China General Chamber of Commerce, started this new rule earlier this year. Security guards at the entrance said they were told by the store manager to turn away anyone who isn’t Chinese.
Why Chinese Supermarkets Are Restricting Nigerians
“They’ve stopped letting everyone in for now,” said one of the security guards, who didn’t want to give his name. “They’re still open and selling things, but they don’t want Nigerians coming in anymore. They only want Chinese people shopping here. Last year, everyone could come in. But since January, they changed the rules and said no Nigerians are allowed.”
The guard didn’t know why the supermarket made this decision. “We don’t know the reason,” he said. “We told them to take down their ads online so people wouldn’t come here anymore.”
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A reporter was somehow allowed in on a Sunday. The guard said, “It’s Sunday, and you seem lucky.”
Inside the supermarket, there were all sorts of food and drinks on the shelves, from other countries and from Nigeria too. But none of the things had price tags. Another worker there, who spoke Yoruba, was surprised to see a Nigerian customer.
“Maybe they let you in because you didn’t come in a car,” she said. She also didn’t know why Nigerians weren’t allowed in anymore.
“That’s right, Nigerians can’t come in,” she explained. “Only people who work here can shop. There’s a reason for it, but we don’t know what it is. It wasn’t like this before. I don’t know why they let you in, maybe because you didn’t come in a car. They wouldn’t let anyone in who comes in a car.”
But things got strange on Monday when the reporter went back to the supermarket. A different security guard was there, and he let the reporter right in without asking any questions. “You want to go shopping? Go on in,” he said.
The reporter tried to talk to people walking by to see if they knew why the supermarket was closed, but no one did. The whole place was quiet, and no one came in or went out for over 45 minutes while the reporter was there. There were also a lot more security guards than usual on the street near the supermarket.
The sudden closing of the supermarket and the news that they wouldn’t let Nigerian customers in has made a lot of people very angry. People are saying this is unfair treatment, and they want someone to look into it. We will keep an eye on this story and let you know what happens next.
