The Project Director, Broadband Implementation Steering Committee, Abubakar Maina, has disclosed that the foreign exchange crisis in Nigeria is discouraging original equipment manufacturers from establishing their companies in the country for made-in-Nigeria phones.
He noted this during a presentation on the implementation status of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020–2025 to the National Digital Economy Council in Abuja on Tuesday.
Maina said, “There are ongoing engagements on this target of cost of devices, and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in collaboration with NCC and ITF is working on a framework with the OEMs to actually bring down the cost. But the main issue is forex. This is the main challenge the OEMs are complaining about.”
In the NNBP 2020–2025, the Federal Government targets at least one locally assembled smart device by 2023 with a target price of N18,000 and three locally assembled smart devices by 2025 with a target price of N9,000 each.
However, it seems the forex crisis in Nigeria may hamper the Federal Government’s target amid the current negotiation with OEMs.
On June 10, 2021, there were news reports of the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), receiving the first made-in-Nigeria phone, known as ITF mobile.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, while presenting the phones to the president, tagged it as the first ever to come out of the country.
Adebayo explained that the phone was one of the 12 produced using locally-sourced components by the Electrical/ Electronics Technology Department of the Industrial Training Fund’s Model Skills Training Centre.
However, a past president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria and National Coordinator for the Alliance for Affordable Internet, Olusola Teniola, verified that there was no record of any made-in-Nigeria phone, adding that what was available were phones that were assembled in Nigeria.
Early this year, the Industry, Trade and Investment Minister had pointed out that although many manufacturing companies were battling a shortage of foreign exchange, the Federal government was doing everything to assist them in accessing forex, particularly for the importation of machinery for those using local raw materials for their production.
However, a recent PUNCH investigation revealed that more than 50 Nigerian manufacturing companies had shut down in the last five years due to forex and power crises.
Some of the manufacturing companies that have exited the industry in the last five years include Surest Foam Limited, Mufex, Framan Industries, MZM Continental, Nipol Industries, Moak Industries, Stone Industries, Solo Industries, Quick Born Industries, Supercor Industries, Arabi Industries, and Rola Industries.
The Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Edo/Delta branch, Okwara Udensi, said on Thursday at the 36th annual general meeting of the association, that the shortage of foreign exchange, poor electricity supply, high lending interest rates, multiple taxes and levies as some of the challenges confronting the sector.
