Information Technology and Communication (ICT) investors have been warned by The Transparency Advocacy Initiative against bringing fake products of any nature into Nigeria, according to reports by Vanguard.
Local and foreign investors must understand that they cannot bring below par goods into Nigeria said Mr. Adodo Solomon, Publicity Secretary of the Initiative, at a press briefing on ‘The State of the Nation on ICT and other sectors’ in Abuja.
Many of these products include mobile phones, tablets and laptops.
“It should be asserted, strongly stated and emphasized that Nigeria is not a dumping ground of fake products, substandard, or unwanted products and the best standard must be maintained when it comes to the ICT products that comes into our market.”
Solomon highlighted that in recent years the increase of substandard products has resulted in the saturation of the ICT market and this greatly affected efficiency and productivity in virtually all sectors of the economy as these products which should increase productivity in fact achieve the opposite as the products are not reliable. He added that Nigeria has gone above and beyond to accommodate these products and it needs to stop.
He applauded the efforts of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) which is committed to advance Nigeria to the promise land of information tech world. “We are delighted that the current NITDA administration did not take this challenge with kids’ gloves but has begun to honestly fight and reverse the public sale of inferior ICT products and services that we are producing in the market.
He added that NITDA is not viewed as merely an administrative platform anymore but has now been shifted to a knowledge-based InfoTech service solution provider. They will also enforce strict regulators in order to ensure compliance with best practice after they identified the prospects the company has in terms of economic diversification, job creation and overall national development.
Solomon added that Nigeria should look to produce their own products instead of dealing with imported substandard ones.“The determined efforts being made by NITDA to boost local content is a sure master stroke that we invest out of flight and lost of forex and this will save the nation an estimated $3.8 billion that is annually lost to the importation of ICT goods and services we therefore invite young Nigerians to reach from their innovative potentials and take advantage of these expanded window offered by NITDA for job creation, economic empowerment and overall self actualization.”
Staff Writer
