The Nigerian ICT accessory market is believed to be a dumping ground for fake and substandard products, but the recent visit by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) would probably change the narrative in due time.
Most of these fake devices in saturation today are mostly found at the popular Computer Village, one of the Africa’s biggest Information and Communications Technology (ICT) accessory market.
The market which is situated at Otigba Street, Ikeja, Lagos, is one of the greatest employers of labour, and provider of the primary ICT solutions, accounting for about N1.5billion daily to the Nigerian economy.
Potentials buyers hardly detect the products that are not original because these fake products have been creatively cloned and sold at the same rate as the original.
An available report reveals counterfeiters might have taken over more than ten per cent (10%) of the market share, and these products are sold majorly in Computer Village and other markets.
Few years ago, Prof. Umar Danbatta disclosed during a stake holders meeting on ‘Combating Counterfeit and Substandard ICT Devices Programme in Abuja, that “counterfeiting was a growing economic problem affecting a wide range of products in the ICT sector, mobile phones are especially targeted with some 250 million counterfeits sold annually.
These fake devices are unapproved by the industry regulator and the implications involve health concerns such as cancer, at the same time affect adversely the quality of service provided by telecom operators in Nigeria.
Although, the NCC through some of its departments have played a good role to make sure that fake products especially smartphones and other devices are entirely wiped from the market.
These efforts have not yielded many results as most dealers responsible for this menace still find their entry into the market and that triggers the question of what the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) are doing to restore sanity, authenticity and originality in the market.
The issue will not be totally curbed by the intervention of the NCC, as its role in this regard is limited to type-approval of all devices that come into the market. More responsibilities in checkmating the saturation of these fake devices are solely vested in agencies like SON and NCS.
Recently, Professor Umar Danbatta visited computer village, had a tour around the market to have a feel of the activities in the market where there have been reported cases of fake product.
“A market for a substandard device has become a source of worry to the regulator because of its effects on service quality, and there is a need to partner with Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN). This would prevent Nigeria from being turned into dumping ground for fake and substandard devices,” the NCC boss said.
The NCC had rolled out a coupled of initiatives at the beginning of the year, and one of the objectives remains to ensure that the consumers are protected.
As a result of this and to make sure that Nigerian consumers get value for any product, he mentioned that the Commission has enormous obligation to protect the Nigerian consumers, however, disclosed the intention of the Commission to partner with CAPDAN by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
“The reason we are calling on the CAPDAN to please support us to rid the market of unwanted elements peddling fake and substandard products.”
Further, the NCC boss tasked CAPDAN President, Ahmed Ojikutu and his team to come up with strategic measures that would help both bodies in tackling the issues such as the sale of non-approved gadgets, the sale of substandard products, cloning of devices.
