Why influx of fake phones may continue

…FG must come up with advocacy programmes, says CAPDAN

Ladesope Ladelokun

The hazardous health effects and the negative economic implication of fake handsets and other Information and Communications Technology (ICT) devices in Nigeria have in the recent times been a regular source of worry for stakeholders in the tech ecosystem.

Industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has, as part of measures to tame the menace, organised town hall meetings, workshops, et al.

At a recently held sensitisation workshop on the hazardous effect of non-type approved handsets and their impact on quality of service and e-waste, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, had said substandard, counterfeit or non-type approved handsets are a global menace and much more severe in the third world and developing countries.

Danbatta added that Nigeria are very attractive to marketers of non-type approved handsets because of its burgeoning and huge population, making the menace a difficult problem to tackle.He said the NCC was ready to partner all the marketers of handsets in the sector.

Speaking with The Daily Times on the matter on Sunday, the President of Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN), Mr Ojikutu Adeniyi, said Nigeria’s population was no doubt fuelling the menace, adding that it was working closely with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria(SON) on regulation and awareness of the buyers.

Ojikutu says the influx of fake phones into Nigeria has more to do with points of entry than the market, calling on the Nigerian Customs and other relevant government agencies to step up measures to ensure they don’t get circulated in Nigeria let alone sold.

He said it was incumbent on the government to embark on advocacy programmes, noting that CAPDAN had done a lot of advocacy in Nigeria’s popular tech hub – Computer Village.

” We’ve done a lot of advocacy on our part and awareness for people. We want to enjoin the government come up with advocacy programmes, awareness programmes, even to the buying public so that people would understand the tips on where to buy, how to buy, how to identify and what have you.

“We bring SON into some of our stakeholders’ meetings to come and educate the people.

As a matter of fact, SON has office inside our secretariat so that they can do product registration and some of the things they are some of the things they are supposed to do from their office to ensure people get value for their money,” he explained.