- Over 350 million fake products sold annually – FG
- Ikeja Computer Village has checked incidence of fakery – CAPDAN
Over 30 per cent of the world’s substandard telephone products are in the Nigerian market, The Point’s investigations have revealed.
This is in spite of several anti-counterfeiting campaigns launched by the Federal Government and international organisations like Motorola Inc. and Samsung Mobile, among others, since 2013.
Figures obtained from the Ministry of Communications and the Nigerian Communications Commission revealed that cloning of Information Communication Technology devices like mobile phones was creating a big economic problem, turning the nation to one of the biggest dumping grounds across the globe.
In its Combating Counterfeit and Substandard ICT Devices report, NCC disclosed that over 350 million fake products were sold in Nigeria and more than half of them were mobile phones.
The number, according to the apex industry regulator, represents over 30 per cent of the worldwide mobile phone market, as it poses a negative economic impact on the producers of genuine products and government-licensed dealers.
The number of sub-standard devices increased from 140 million as at the end of 2014, to over 350 million by the end of June, 2017, findings had revealed.
Also, after inspecting the acclaimed largest technology market in West Africa (Lagos Computer Village) – as it accommodates over 3,000 ICT small and medium enterprises – the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, said it had become necessary for the nation to evolve a system of registering all phones coming into it.
An impeccable source in the ministry disclosed that over 30 out of about 50 mobile phone brands in the country were not NCC type-approved and that the development contributed significantly to the persistent poor quality of service from network operators.
The findings may have thus put a lie to the claim of the Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria that the Computer Village in Lagos is free from substandard phones and other devices, owing to series of innovations adopted by the umbrella body, comprising the dealers, vendors, artisans and technicians at the Village.
In its Combating Counterfeit and Substandard ICT Devices report, NCC disclosed that over 350 million fake products were sold in Nigeria and more than half of them were mobile phones
‘FAKERY BEHIND ABSENCE OF PHONE PLANTS IN NIGERA’
Meanwhile, some mobile phone manufacturers have spent fortunes on the Research and Development department to go steps ahead of imitators.
Findings revealed that while Samsung spent over $40.4 billion on its R&D, globally, between 2014 and 2017, Microsoft (Nokia), Motorola, and Tecno spent $50 billion, $45.2 billion and $35.7 billion, respectively, within the same period.
Despite spending fortunes to curb the menace, these firms are still lamenting over the activities in the grey market, as many of them are forced to drop the idea of setting up manufacturing plants in the most populous black nation.
Though the President, Samsung Electronics Africa, Mr. Sung Yoon, admitted that counterfeiting was a global scourge that does not only affect Samsung products, he said his company was consistently innovating and enhancing the quality of its products to ensure they were not easily counterfeited.
He said, “Even though we cannot give a precise figure on the percentage of counterfeit Samsung phones in the Nigerian market, the impact of grey market is significant in Nigeria.
“We are joining forces with relevant authorities to address the issue. At this point, we have no plans of bringing a manufacturing plant to Nigeria because of the grey market cited, which would affect our returns on investment.
“We are trying to be a local company here. Building factory depends on return on investment and efficiency of the economy. There are a lot of grey products coming into the country and this will affect our ROI. Manufacturing a mobile phone requires about 400 different components, none of which is available in Nigeria.”
To curb counterfeit, the Manager, Business Operations and Development, Motorola Africa, Mr. Marcel Van De Pas, disclosed that his company did not only get the brand licence but also got 3,000 top notch R and D engineers in Chicago, United States, to work on Motorola products.
He said, “We are phasing out the entire Lenovo brand and that means that after this year, we will not be bringing any more Lenovo products into Nigeria. Customers can still buy Lenovo products till Christmas time and service continues on Lenovo products. We believe this will help curb the menace to a certain extent.”
An impeccable source in Motorola Inc. told our correspondent that the menace had affected the sales recorded in the mobility and radio segments of the firm.
She said, “The mobility arm was actually sold to Google earlier, due to the activities in the grey market. The same would have been done to the radio segment but for the fact that the segment remains the cash cow of the company.
“There was a suggestion of building our manufacturing plant here, but it was knocked out, considering what we had suffered in the past and how some plants had already shut operations in the country. So, it is better to import for now to test the ground.”
OVER 20 PHONE MODELS IN NIGERIA UNAPPROVED – ATCON
The President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria,
Mr. Olusola Teniola, explained that there were over 20 unapproved telephone models across the Nigerian markets.
“Investigations have revealed that more than 20 brands in Nigeria are not approved by NCC, as they pose threat to the health of Nigerians.
“Most of them are boldly displayed at different technology and general markets and no one is doing anything about it. Apart from these fake phones constituting some health hazards to consumers, they equally affect QoS delivery from network operators.”
COMPUTER VILLAGE NOW RELIABLE – CAPDAN
Though, like other businesses or markets, the President, CAPDAN, Mr. Ahmed Ojikutu, admitted that Ikeja Computer Village used to face a few challenges that included selling of fake phones, computer accessories and the influx of inexperienced engineers; he said such practices were now a thing of the past.
He said, “These always made people to be scared of coming to the market to get goods or repair technical appliances but it is now under control. We are collaborating with Fonreg Software to develop a web portal, which enables us to track stolen phones. Traders are expected to register on the web portal; that is, every buyer who purchases any item from them, especially mobile phones.
“The need to create the portal became necessary, given the rise in the sales of stolen smartphones and fake accessories in the market in the last one year. In the event that a mobile phone was stolen and returned to the market for sale, the trader could quickly log on to the portal to verify if the phone was stolen.
“If verified that it was a stolen phone, the trader would quickly alert the real owner and the police would be invited for necessary prosecution.”
Additional report: Toyin Sangotade
