By Charles Mgbolu
Unlike refurbished phones that had stepped into the nations ICT market a few years back and witnessed a steady increase in sales and popularity, refurbished computers, which had been launched a few years prior to this time had not been too successful. It’s reception had been poor and plagued with bad sales.

Matters had only been made worse with the litany of technical problems known to be associated with them. Today, however, this story has changed.

Refurbished computers are now one of the fastest sought-after IT gadgets in the nations ICT market.
This is coming despite stiff regulations from regulatory authorities including the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, (SON) and the Basel Convention on the Control of trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal.

Their cry had been that the country was fast becoming a dumping ground for either used or refurbished PC products plummeting into a near uncontrollable e-waste epidemic.

There has been task forces inaugurated in the past to checkmate these influxes, yet, large numbers of these refurbished computers still enter the country and into a blazing hot IT market.

Competition with refurbished computers like every other IT product that had ventured into the nations ICT market had started first with outright denial of it’s presence. Later, it’s greatly increased market share and presence had been down played and called a “not threatening” situation.

That too is no longer the perspective as presently, key manufacturers of IT products have clearly begun awareness campaigns that seeks to distinguish their products from others, ‘fakes’ especially. In the case with mobile phones, it is alleged it’s refurbished versions still continue to flourish despite these frantic advertorial attempts.

Now, the heat has turned on to manufacturers of personal computers; notebooks, laptops and desktops.
In the past, they’d had no reason to take a second glance at the deceptive looking refurbished computer devices. Like refurbished phones, they came with no name.

Those that did, could not be linked to any computer making company in the world. The names were queer and at first glance raised heavy suspicious brows. They also came in rather odd colours. From pale pink to deep blue and in some cases a shocking combination of black and white stripes.

The inner setups had been even more difficult to deal with as a whole lot of applications had been omitted. Some of the refurbished computers have been unable to see or read external hard drives and flash ports had been failing perpetually. Yet, this had not stopped it’s steady market growth over the years. Today, with even more applications missing, market observations have seen the spot light tilt slightly away from the notable computer brand names we know.

For these big computer manufacturers, their biggest challenge is price. Nigerians, largely, cannot afford computers that runs into tens of thousands of naira. This is the single market advantage of refurbished computers.

As the urgency to hook up to the internet builds up, Nigerians in their droves are taking the chances of acquiring these computers; unreliable as they are.