While I am an apostle of integration of Africa’s economy it is imperative to appreciate the fact that Nigeria has run the most liberal open door economy that welcomes businesses from across Africa with open hands.
And South Africa being one of the most advanced economies with strong manufacturing base in Africa has unarguably been the highest recipient of Afrocentric economic policy.
There’s no sector of the Nigerian economy that you won’t see a South African company pulling its weight strongly and extensively.
I think it would be petty of me if I fail to acknowledge the positive impacts South African companies have made in Nigeria especially in areas of human capital development from telecoms to media, retail chains to banking, insurance to hospitality and ICT.
The synergy has been tremendously beneficial for both countries because they brought the know-how and innovation, we have the people.
Unfortunately, that is where the mutual beneficiation ends as many South African companies operating in Nigeria have grown into monopolistic behemoths. Not only strangulating competition but making it impossible for new entrants to have roots.
And nowhere is this as pronounced as in the telecoms sector where they have full control of the market.
And I am not talking about the big masquerade MTN that has been engaging in some of the most ruthless anti consumer practices over the years, rather I am talking about Optasia that for 12 years held the digital airtime and data credit market by the jugular.
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To allow a company, not least a foreign one operate as a monopoly in a sector that is valued at over N3 trillion annually is not just economic sabotage, it is economic treason.
And this is against the backdrop of Nigeria being celebrated as Africa’s largest startup and fintech hub, thus it is absurd that a single foreign entity has held the digital lending space hostage for this long.
This is why I am solidly behind efforts by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to dismantle this monopoly, a move that is not just welcome but long overdue .
Tellingly, the ongoing legal battle points to the fact that Optasia is fighting tooth and nail to protect a position of dominance they would never be allowed to hold in their home country South Africa.
The idea of a foreign firm controlling a strategic financial gateway with zero local equity or data sharing would face immediate anti-trust action in South Africa .
Yet, they contest this in Nigeria while reportedly practicing massive capital flight, siphoning out trillions in profits annually while employing almost no local staff and hosting our citizens’ credit data offshore . This is economic exploitation disguised as service.
Such monopolies are unacceptable in a thriving democracy. They stifle local innovators, block the creation of a robust credit bureau system, and weaken the Naira through relentless repatriation of funds.
There is a need for the government and its agencies to stretch further in hunting down these hidden monopolies across sectors from telecom value added services to port operations and digital infrastructure.
While this has nothing to do with the ongoing Afrophobia in South Africa, it is also a clear reminder that every market counts and no country is an oasis unto itself.
Kelechi Deca
