…Where adults can buy clean shirt for N35
BY SKILLFUL
Can you believe this? With mere N35, an adult can buy a shirt in Lagos. That is possible at Katangowa market. Katangua market holds somewhere at Super Bus stop in Abule-Egba along Lagos-Abeokuta expressway, Lagos State. It is the mother of all markets where second-hand wears and household items are sold cheaply.
At Katangowa market, you don’t need to have thousands of naira in your pocket before they can make their shopping. The market is renowned for the sales of almost all fairly-used products under the sun. However, it specialises a lot more in wears.
At the market, very castaway item from the Western countries means big money. Shipping containers arrive in the market from Lagos wharfs every passing hour. They are filled to the brim with bales and bales of secondhand clothes from mostly Europe and elsewhere around the world. Traders scour, haggle and barter for T-shirts, all women’s ears, shoes – every thing.
When our reporter visit the market recently, lots and lots of heaps of adult clothes were seen everywhere on the ground surrounded by traders most whom kept ringing their bells to attract attention. Traders who were not ringing bells were heard shouting to advertise their own wares. “Buy your fine shirts, three for N100,” some cried.
A trader, Chika Obi, who was surrounded by piles of clothes told our correspondent: “Our shops are called ‘bend down’ boutiques because we have so many clothes; we just heap them on the ground and customers come, bend over to make their selection.
“Some people who are selling clothes in boutiques and stores are buying from us. They buy first grade at cheaper rates and later resell at higher prices,” he said.
Of course, there are many of such markets in the city, but when it comes to cheap prices and varieties, none is like Kantagowa market. It the preferred market for all things cheap. That is why many flock to it. It is opened seven days a week. But Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are special days during which new consignments arrive. They arrive from different parts of the world through most times some of the neighbouring African countries.
According to Skillwap investigation, various parlances are used by the traders to indicate the quality of the items. For instance, there are first grades, second grades and so on. The prices of the items differ according to their grades.
Skillwap blog investigation further revealed that people from all walks of life, irrespective of social or economic class patronise Katangua market. Students in various higher institutions of learning are also regular customers at the traders. Many insist Katangowa is a market for all.
A trader, Emeka Ihenacho, who sells first grade clothes at the market, told skillwapblog that most of his customers belonged to the upper middle class who come to the vicinity of the market, park their cars, remain in them and wait until he brings the wares to them. All the transactions – picking and pricing, he says, are done right in the customers’ cars. He boasts that what he sells are of quality, stating that it is for that reason that his well-to-do customers can’t stop patronising him.
Skillwapblog further gathered that a portion of all clothes globally-donated to charity homes in foreign countries end up in African markets. The items are part of the stuff sold in small boutiques and markets such as Katangowa.
The items which easily become articles of trade some believe, pose a threat to Nigeria’s local textile market.
However, a trader in the market who did not want his name mentioned, told our correspondent that “we get more of the goods during Christmas and New Year season. During that period, Westerners offload a large chunk of their clothes to charity shops; They are rolled into big bales and shipped to us.”
But even when some countries in Africa, including Nigeria had long banned the importation of fairly-used clothes, the trade is still booming thus putting enormous pressure on the textile industry now gasping for breath. However, many insist that the trade allows import of cheap clothes which provides jobs for the unemployed folks and puts foods on the table of many. families.
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