Beware! That tokunbo spare part may have been recycled

To meet rising demand for tokunbo
auto components and increase
profit margins, many traders have
taken to refurbishment of scraps,
GEOFF IYATSE reports
At about 8am on Monday, as one
gazed across a canal that
crisscrosses the Ladipo
International Auto Part Market to
observe activities going on, its
gentle-flowing water came to
focus. And there was something
unfamiliar with the river that flows
down from Ilupeju, traversing
Ladipo, before making a detour
towards FESTAC town. It was
unusually clean and had less grease
and oil to contend with.
About three hours later, when the
market and the ‘manufacturing’
shops that lie along the canal had
fully opened for business, the
water changed to brown liquid. And
by 3pm, something else had
replaced it – it was a current of
greasy fluid. A few motor parts
dealers had jumped into the
channel to wash assorted worn-out
components. The parts would be
refurbished and taken to the shops
for sale to unwary customers.
The polluted water is the first
victim of the massive recycling
activities that take place at
different junkyards in the market, a
development that has assumed a
curious dimension in the past few
years. While recycling may be a
global standard for managing
waste, Ladipo auto dealers, indeed,
have redefined the term.
With crude techniques, the dealers
rework unserviceable automobile
metals and pass them on as fairly-
used (popularly known as tokunbo)
components. Investigation shows
that reworked scraps constitute, at
least, 80 per cent of the parts now
sold at the market, thereby
clouding out valuable products.
The development, which some
dealers admitted was unethical,
has become worrisome to both
users and genuine parts traders.
Those who have monitored the
trend said it raised questions on
the sustainability of the flourishing
second-hand automobile market in
the country.
At Ladipo, arguably one of the
largest of its kind in Africa,
hundreds of young boys eke out a
living by converting, through
tortuous processes, completely
knocked down components to
spare parts.
Most of the artisans who have
turned the market to a vast
‘manufacturing’ site, it was learnt,
have no relevant skills in the
highly-technical field they have
gone into. They are either
secondary school dropouts or chaps
who missed out in other life
endeavours. Sources said they
came to the market as hustlers but
took to recycling as supply
continued to fall short of the
demand for spare parts.
“About 15 years ago when I secured
my first shop in the market, there
was nothing like refurbished parts.
Nobody had the time to rework
scraps with the motive of reselling
them. But with the growth of
unemployment, strange people
began to flood the market. They
started as middle men, and moved
on to phony activities such as
rebuilding of warn-out parts,”
Emeka Ezelu, a dealer in Toyota
engine parts, observed.
Another trader, Tochukwu Peters,
said those who are involved in the
sharp practice had no form of
training in the handling and repair
of auto parts. He added that many
of them relied on trial-and-error
methods.
In Lagos, it is an all-comers craft
On a daily basis, diverse groups toil
on open spaces at the expansive
market, using diverse metal tools
and fire to make out something
from scraps.
In the automobile ‘business’, the
only tools a new entrant needs to
start are hammers, chisels, pliers,
spinners and, perhaps, a collection
of iron beams.
Asked how they got involved in the
business, many said they started as
mechanics or blacksmiths but
delved into their new-found
vocation when they were no longer
getting satisfaction from their
previous engagements.
Kasim Ayodele said he relocated to
Lagos State from Ondo State where
he worked with his late diesel
merchant father. On arrival, he
narrated, “I joined my friend who
was a mechanic at Ojuelegba. But
we had a disagreement after two
months. That was what informed
my coming to Ladipo.”
With a two-month apprenticeship
in a roadside mechanic garage and
none in spare parts repair, Ayodele
has assumed responsibility for a
shop where steering racks
(complex auto control
components) and shock absorbers
are fixed. He also, occasionally,
does drive conversion, an equally
skill-demanding undertaking.
Hakeem Oshofa may not be as
‘qualified’ as Ayodele. In short, he
never had a stint in automobile
repair before coming to Ladipo. Yet,
his lack of relevant experience
could not deter him from going
into the most delicate system in
automobile – brake components.
And on a daily basis, droves of auto
parts traders flock around him to
have their problems fixed.
Perhaps, the background of
Chibuzor Ibokwe vis-à-vis the
service he provides is most
illuminating of what Ladipo has
become. He joined his uncle’s shop
as a trainee trader about a decade
ago when he arrived from Abia
State with a junior secondary
education. He said he had studied
how his boss converted gear boxes
to suit other brands of cars. His
observation, which is the only
‘training’ he has received since
then, lasted for five years after
which he left to start his own style
of alteration.
With his defective training, young
Ibokwe hangs around the market in
expectation that somebody with a
need of unavailable or expensive
gear box will come his way. And
they do come for him daily.
He told our correspondent that
there was no gear box challenge he
could not resolve. He said most of
his jobs came from parts sellers
who had problems with imported
components.
How Ibokwe identifies a gear
system that is compatible with
another car it was not
manufactured for is a mystery even
to him. But he said he knew when
he loosed the gear box. And he
claimed that different versions of a
brand used the same gear, saying
the differences were mostly in
their seats.
For instance, Toyota Camry 1992 to
2004 models, according to him, use
the same gear system but
assembled in different cases to suit
the unique designs of the models.
He said he had successfully used
the 1992 model gear to fix that of
2002 model when the owner of the
latter could not afford the price.
Indeed, Ibokwe’s ingenuity
provides ‘solution’ but a temporary
one. Sources said those who had
patronised his strange remedy
returned with complaints after two
or three weeks when the
guarantee would have expired.
At Ladipo, there may not be
anything like a useless part
anymore. What motorists or
mechanics dispose of are picked,
dusted and taken to workshop to
be refurbished. In fact, the
operators have started gambling
with reinventing complete vehicles
if they are not doing that already. It
is no longer abnormal to see
vehicle chassis brought to the
market for reassembling.
Our correspondent learnt, during a
visit on Wednesday, that
suspension, steering and
underneath parts constitute close
to 90 per cent of the items that are
refurbished at the Ladipo sites.
Hence, shock absorbers, tie rods,
suspension links, steering racks,
shafts and beam axles are the most
common items found at those sites.
Yet, shops that specialise in gear
boxes, engine blocks, fuel pumps,
air-condition compressors,
ignitions, fuel injectors and similar
components are not in short
supply.
Sadly, refurbished shock absorbers
are now so common at the market
that an average trader sifts through
several dozens of the components
to fish out one or two that have yet
to be tampered with. The rest are
those that have been re-gassed
and coated with black oil to look
like imported used ones.
According to Clement Uzor, a trader
in the market, the problem has got
to a point when a component is
recycled three or more times in a
year.
“What they do is that they go back
to mechanics to pick the parts
removed from cars and take them
to the workshops where they
rework and sell them to ignorant
customers.
“A mechanic who sells a
condemned shock absorber for
N1,000 will come back after it has
been re-gassed to buy it for N5,000.
Some of them know what they are
buying but go ahead because they
are not the ones that will use
them,” Uzor observed.
The market authority has
recognised the act not only as a
dent on the business but also as a
threat to its (the market’s) survival.
Public Relations Officers of the
Ladipo Central Executive
Committee, Onyeka Igwe, told our
correspondent that the group was
fighting hard to contain the
problem.
The effort, he said, was, however,
curtailed by the physical nature of
the market. Supposing it was a
purpose-built facility, he said, it
would be easier for the association
to monitor what individual traders
were into and regulate them.
Refurbishment, a national
threat
Ladipo is not alone in the abyss of
local part refurbishment. Several
young boys doing similar jobs are
also holed up in the Volkswagen
auto parts market at Itire, Surulere;
the Oyingbo Honda parts market
and other small centres where
fairly-used parts are sold. At
mechanic sites located at different
parts of Lagos, it is also a growing
phenomenon.
Unfortunately, it is a Lagos problem.
At Upper Iweka area of Onitsha, the
commercial nerve of Anambra
State; Benin, Edo State and Ekette,
Akwa Ibom State, there are
sprawling sites where dead parts
are refurbished through similar
crude methods.
Users rue financial loss
As smart traders ‘refurbish’ their
way to wealth, motorists, who are
the ultimate losers, are recounting
the woes.
Narrating his ordeal, Simon
Adeleye, a middle-aged lawyer,
recalled the frustration he suffered
following the purchase of his
Volkswagen Passat early this year.
Unknown to him, the gear box and
the rear shock absorbers of the car
were bad. His efforts to replace
them marked the beginning of his
woes.
“I have changed the gear box twice
yet there is no improvement. Now,
I don’t know exactly what to do.
Somebody told me recently that I
could use Golf 3 to rework it since it
is cheaper. My challenge is not the
cost but getting a good one.
“I gave up on the shock absorbers
because it appears stupid to
continue to fret over damaged
suspension when the car cannot
even cover 100 kilometers because
of its sluggish transmission,”
Adeleye lamented.
For three years, Bright Omar, a book
marketer, had contemplated
buying a used car but his plan was
stuck by indecision and fear – fear
of unexpected breakdown and high
maintenance cost. Eventually the
very things he feared came with a
Mitsubishi brand he bought late
last year. He got delivery of the
second-hand car but the steering
rack needed replacement.
Omar said he had changed the
component three times before he
realised the mechanic was buying
re-worked ones. He eventually
solved the problem but not
without spending over 400 per cent
of what the repair would have cost
him supposing there were no many
dead parts in the market.
Underlying factors
Arthur Chedu, an investment expert
in automobile economics, said the
shrewd practice is driven by poor
standisation. He noted that over 90
per cent of car users opted for
tokunbo parts, a reason recycling
has become a flourishing business.
“If nobody buys fairly-used parts,
do you think those boys will be
playing those kinds of tricks? When
you have the sort of poor standard-
setting-and-implementation
system we have in the auto part
market, you should naturally
expect what we have. Is there any
other country that relies on
tokunbo parts the way we do?” he
asked.
The poverty, unemployment
factor
Another analyst, John Akabi,
attributed the problem to poverty
and unemployment. He said
nobody would work under the kind
of debilitating condition those who
indulge in it face to earn peanuts if
there were sufficient jobs.
It was learnt that some motorists
go to the market requesting
reworked parts (which they loosely
refer to as second-grade). Dealers
said some categories of customers,
especially commercial and private
drivers, requested the lower-grade
parts because they were cheaper.
Inconsistent policies also fuel
the practice
The challenge may have also been
compounded by lack of consistency
of related policies. When, some
years ago, the current
administration increased the age
limit of imported used cars, Oseme
Oigiagbe, the chairman of the
Automobile and Transport Group of
the Lagos Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, had expressed worry
that the decision would compound
the maintenance capacity.
A trader at Itire, Chibuzor Chigozie,
on Wednesday, made an
observation that appeared to have
confirmed the fear. He said some of
the cars currently being imported
had been phased out in Europe and
America. Hence, he said, affected
cars could only be serviced with
recycled parts, as imported ones
were no longer available. He said
several models manufactured in
early 1990s had been affected.
According to a consultant to the
Economic Community of West
African States, Dr. Ken Ife, there may
not be respite in sight as Nigeria,
on an annual basis, smuggles
400,000 cheap second-hand cars
from Cotonou, the Republic of
Benin, in addition to the 200,000
brought into the country from
regular routes.
He also noted that the increase in
duty on spare parts would
exacerbate the challenge.
Ife, however, said ingenuity in
fabrication of spare parts should be
encouraged through funding and
provision of relevant machines to
guarantee accuracy.
Bright Omodia, a Lagos-based
clearing agent, said there had not
been increase in duty on second-
hand parts, which he said had
remained at about 20 per cent in
recent times. Yet, some traders
claimed that it was now more
expensive to do the business than
it was previously. They regretted
that customers were not ready to
pay higher despite the obvious
increase in the landing cost of the
products.
Harrison Emeka said many of his
colleagues might have resolved to
sell refurbished parts alongside
genuine ones to reduce the losses
they could incur dealing with only
“directly-imported goods.”
According to experts, the new tariff
structure, which increases duty/
levy on imported FBU from 22 per
cent to 70 per cent, will reduce
affordability of new cars and
increase reliance on old ones.
Already, the relationship between
new and used cars is largely
disproportionate and even
widening. Official statistics from the
Ministry of Industry, Trade and
Investment puts the ratio at five to
95 per cent in favour of used cars.