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Fake phones: CAPDAN decries SON’s comment

By on August 13, 2014

Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria has condemned comments credited to the Director General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, that 80 per cent of mobile phones sold at Computer Village in Lagos were fake products.

Speaking through its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Godwin Enamoh, CAPDAN said such allegations from Odumodu were “unbecoming” and lacked any basis and if not checked, could destroy the market.

At an anti-counterfeiting conference organised by Hewlett Packard in Abuja, last week, the SON director general had said that larger percentage of sales from brands including HP, Nokia, Samsung, and others, were not coming from their manufacturers directly but through counterfeiting.

The SON boss had insisted that, “about 80 per cent of mobile phone sales at the said largest technology market in Africa (Computer Village in Lagos) are fake products.”

However, Enamoh said such a comment was not true and might have prompted prospective customers to become weary of purchasing phones, computers and other allied products from Computer Village.

“And when people decide not to do business with us anymore because of the lies being peddled against us by the SON director general, then the situation might even become worse, as the loans granted our members by various banks could become threatened,” Enamoh said.

He said, “Should this happen, then the import of Odumodu’s statement would have hindered employment growth and would discourage investors, demobilise and destroy the market.”

The CAPDAN PRO argued that members were paying so much rent, and so could not have afforded to deal in fake phones and computers and therefore, end up discouraging potential consumers.

“On the average, we pay about N2m annually as rent, so don’t you think it would be funny should we decide to deal in fake products, which in the long run will discourage people from patronising us when they realise that they are not buying genuine products,” he said.

According to him, “the fake phones in Computer Village are not more than 30 per cent and this is something we know and we are sure of. “

He said, “We stay here in the market and over time we have carried out investigation to ascertain those who deal in such, so we authoritatively arrived at statistics and that was how we came about 30 per cent.

“But in the case of SON and Odumodu, they never visited the market but sat down somewhere and arrived at 80 per cent.”

Enamoh advised SON to collaborate with CAPDAN and other associations within the market to fight sales of illicit goods, “rather than use force or make statements capable of causing a misrepresentation among people.”

He also cautioned SON against using force to eject “the so-called fake phone dealers,” saying, “It would only be counter-productive and further cause more damage than their previous attempt.”

He added, “If they use genuine ways, they will protect genuine investments of people selling genuine products.”

 

 

[Punch]

One Comment

  1. priceless prince poland

    August 13, 2014 at 9:12 am

    Yeah they are fake phones don’t kill your brother for the sake of money .