Despite the fact that locally made technology devices are increasing, some Nigerians say they still prefer products manufactured outside the country.
Emmanuel Akpan, a businessman, is one of this category of people. Narrating his experience, Mr. Akpan said, “I was once given an Omatek laptop in 2007 for a project from my former employer. One of the major reasons we requested for the laptops was because they were cheaper than those from Dell, Sony, Hewlett-Packard (HP). But the laptops had problem with durability, they were not aesthetically beautiful like the Dell and HP ones in terms of finishing and of course the battery did not always last as long as others,” added Mr. Akpan.
However, not all Nigerians are complaining. Peter Ohimor, an engineer and a contractor, said that although the local manufacturers cannot compete with global standard in some aspects, they have huge advantage in terms of customers support service. “I think the local manufacturers do have an edge in the technology market because they have good after sales support service and their warranty are usually longer because they are made in Nigeria compared to the international products that you hardly get a support service when you buy just a single product and with one year warranty,” he said.
This was reiterated by Biyi Fashoyin, the spokesperson of Omatek, a Nigerian computer manufacturing firm. “It is not true that our products cannot compete with the foreign products,” he said. “There is nothing that is different from Omatek because all our components are sourced from the same manufacturers the only difference is the name of the brand. Our return rate is less than one percent for instances we are responsible for supplying civil servants in Lagos, Oyo and Osun states. If our products were bad, it would have been known in the media, Omatek systems have a three year warranty with the strongest after sale support in the country.”
Production obstacles
Femi Olaiya, an Information and Communication Technology consultant, said that local manufacturers cannot compete with global standard simply because of some challenges in the country. “Some factors of production need to be attended to, from power infrastructure, port authority, and taxes amongst others. At the moment, no local manufacturer can compete with the international manufacturers. The cost of production is a lot cheaper in most of those places compete to the Nigerian market. Take for instance the cost of energy in the country is much higher than that of the developed world; unnecessary bottleneck at the ports, taxes,” he said.
Mr. Olaiya added that a major part of manufacturing which is the know-how must be highly encouraged in order to meet up with the global standard. “We complain that unemployment rate is high in the country when most of them, who had studied a course in engineering or computer science, are jobless and as such not putting into practice the knowledge they had gained from the university. The standard of our education need to be taken seriously and government must find ways to encourage purchase of made in Nigeria products,” said Mr. Olaiya. In 2006, Computer for All Nigerian Initiative (CANI) was launched by former president, Olusegun Obasanjo to promote the products of Nigerian manufacturers and ensure that Nigerians associate with their brands. Omatek, Zinox, Veda are among the leading locally produced computer brands in Nigeria.
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