The Nigerian telecoms regulator says that fake and substandard mobile devices pose national security threats to the country.
Professor Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission says that apart from this, unapproved mobile devices undermine the nation’s economy and contribute to growing electronic waste across the country.
The telecoms regulator has recently said it is addressing issues of e-waste due to improper recycling of mobile devices and other criminal acts carried out using mobile telephony services
Danbatta, represented by Amina Shehu, Director Zonal Operations at NCC, said this at Paiko, near Minna in Niger State where the telecoms regulatory agency hosted a sensitization programme on the issue of fake and substandard devices.
Apart from the negative implication on the quality of service available to the user of non-type approved and substandard handsets or other mobile devices, using uncertified sets is hazardous and poses threat to successful management of electronic wastes, the NCC chief says.
He says that such counterfeited devices apart pose risks to humans while fake handsets and other devices have implications for the Quality of Consumer Experience and “damages the integrity of the Networks, and also threatens both the security and economy of the nation.”
Besides the negative implication on the quality of service available to the user of non-type approved and substandard handsets or other mobile devices, using uncertified sets is hazardous and poses threat to successful management of electronic wastes, the agency says.
NCC is working collaboratively with Consumer Protection Council, Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) and agencies charged with the duty of protecting the environment and those in the security to address the menace of importation and sale of non- type approved handsets in the country, says the agency’s chief.
The sensitization workshop comes amid an NCC Public Inquiry on Draft Guidelines for Disaster Recovery and Draft Regulations on e-Waste held at the Commission’s Head Office in Abuja where Danbatta said that electronic waste constitutes the fastest-growing waste stream in the world and because that genre of waste is non-biodegradable, it was time stakeholders took concrete implementable actions to arrest the proliferation of electronic waste in Nigeria.