By Adekunle Adekoya

IT is not very often that traders here complain about products from a foreign country; in fact, it is a rare occurrence. This is because in this economy, consumers prefer foreign-made goods to locally made ones, even when the foreign ones are visibly inferior to those made locally.

From footwear to textiles and other consumer goods, Nigerians opt to boast, for example, that “my shirt is imported,”or “this shoe is from Italy,” etc. In fact, new products made in Aba or Nnewi will succeed faster in the market if the makers advertise them as imported rather than as local.

File photo: refurbished phones

Thus, when traders in the ICT markets of Lagos begin to complain about the standards of products from a certain South-East Asia nation, then we need to listen to them. The Computer Village in Ikeja and Saka Tinubu in Victoria Island, Lagos are two of the largest markets for ICT products in this country, and arguably in the whole of West Africa. Traders there have been complaining recently about the influx of substandard phones, and at rock-bottom prices.

It is not only phones of inferior quality that find their way here; virtually anything that can be put into a container gets here, with the merchants becoming instant millionnaires while their foreign partners repatriate huge sums of forex back home, all at the expense of the average Nigerian.

This situation is not new. What really is at the bottom of the issue are product standards and whether they are being enforced at all. In the case of mobile phones, the point is whether they are type-approved by the telecoms regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission. In addition, what is the role of the Standards Organization of Nigeria in this? Further, what roles, if any, have the border agencies to play in this matter?

As a nation, we play with our lives by turning blind eyes to a lot of things which cumulate to affect us negatively in the long run. I recall that as far back as 1972, our country changed from driving on the left with right hand steering to driving on the right with left hand steering. Despite this, a lot of “righty”vehicles are on our roads, generating traffic confusion. Why did SON allow them into the country? If they escaped SON, why have the Police and FRSC continued to allow them on our roads?

Back to the issue of sub-standard phones. If the traders are complaining, we need to look beyond their selfish motives and discern the deeper issues there. Somebody who buys a mobile phone at N1,500 may not know that he/she may need to buy another one in a few months’time, compared with someone who buys a phone for N20,000 or more, and who may enjoy the phone for more than two years.

As ICT penetration progresses, we owe it a duty to protect the less privileged ones among us, and that is why in the first place various initiatives have been floated to enable as many Nigerians as possible own ICT devices. Government must rise to protect the poor by ensuring that these cheap phones are not sub-standard.