The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has clamped down on seven major importers over the sale of unapproved cell phones to the public. NCC over the weekend raided cell phone shops on Beruit Road, Kano over complaints of selling unapproved products to the general public.
Briefing journalists in Kano over the activities of unregistered marketers of cell phones, NCC Head of Enforcement, Salisu Abdu said that a major competitor filed a complaint to the commission over marketing of unapproved handsets in the state.
“Based on our investigations, it was established that Rokea Merchant Group are dealing in non-type Rokea handsets, which ought to have been registered by NCC but failed to comply, following a complaint by a competitor, who also deals in same products,” he said.
Abdu explained that, a pre-enforcement notice was earlier served on Rokea Group but on arrival at the company premises, it was discovered that the company had abandoned sales of the Rokea handset products, following our commitment to ensure compliance of due process.
He said the company had submitted 17 models of such products for type-approval, which would be processed in due course, as we want such handsets to be compatible with our system.
The Assistant Director, said the Commission had embarked on the enforcement exercise on importers and marketers of handset products in the country by monitoring their activities to ensure that they are registered, so as to avoid been sanctioned.
According to him, the commission had so far clamped down on seven defaulters of the guidelines, since 2012 to date; stressing that approval is a regulatory process of the commission to compel importers, as well as those dealing on the sale of handsets to comply.
Abdu said the challenges to date were the lack of cooperation by the marketers and consumers to forward their complaints to the Commission on issues of non-type approval.
By Pita Ochai
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