Computer Village, still dreadful!
Features of the week:
Daily ugly tale of woes by Nigerians of their experiences at the
Computer Village, Ikeja, is now a stigma the Computer and Allied
Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN) should tackle.
Reports REMMY NWEKE.
COMPUTER Village, is a popular Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) accessories' market located at the heart of Ikeja,
the capital of Lagos State.
From computer parts to photocopiers, compact discs (CDs), digital
equipment such as cameras and removable disk or flash key otherwise
known as Universal Serial Bus (USB) to software, are on sell daily at
this market.
But incidentally the bad name the market has ascribed to itself was
basically due to vices relating to fake products, offering used
products for new ones, for several years now.
With the advent of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),
the accessories have since flooded the Computer Village, through grey
market supplies.
Just recently, the management of Intel Corporation, under its South
African office staged what was described as `digital street fair' to
herald its entrance into the nation's market.
Intel, a leading manufacturer of microchips and processors, both of
which have come to be known as indispensable among other aspects of
computing globally.
This was in the assumption of the positive impact being recorded by
the nation in the ICT sector in over three years.
The fair was seen as a stimulus for the nation's Personal Computing
industry and in recognition of the import of Nigeria and the Otigba
Computer Village, to be precise in the African sub-Saharan specialised
market.
Speaking at the occasion, representatives of the Computer Village,
under the aegis of Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of
Nigeria (CAPDAN) and Managing Director of ITWorld, Mr. Obinna Obienu,
noted that the market has grown from 1,500 businesses by over 100 per
cent.
He expressed hope his association members would like to collaborate
with Intel among other corporate organisations and government at all
levels in developing the market to an enviable standard.
And in efforts to standardize its activities, CAPDAN last December
made a public show, following the inauguration of its new executive
members in Lagos.
At the occasion, President of the association, Mr. Ibrahim Olatunji
Balogun, said CAPDAN, has consolidated its front line position as the
nation's leading market and destination of choice for home users and
business to meet their computers and allied products and services'
need.
According to him, CAPDAN, is poised to drive the overall national
vision of promoting information technology growth for national
development through the supply of relevant computers, software and
allied products and services to achieve these objectives.
Mr. Balogun, called on government to complement the vision of the
association through enabling incentives policies and patronage, which
will boost local content in the technology market.
CAPDAN president, also solicited for a zero duty on computers and
allied components to complement the efforts of local system builders
and make them affordable.
He stated that CAPDAN is committed to the eradication of software
piracy and various form of intellectual property rights infringements
within the market.
"We have taken these initiatives to restore confidence and promote
international best business practices in all aspects of our market. We
also hope to ensure equitable return to all stakeholders involved in
innovating for the growth and sustainable development of the
technology sector in Nigeria," he added.
Above all these, there seem to be a stigma hanging over the computer
village. This has to do with frequency of theft in shops and along the
streets within the village.
One of the incidents was the lost of a camera phone, Samsung SGH E700,
in a shop called ChuksPee by a customer whose name incidentally was
Chuks, who had visited the shop to buy a digital camera among other
digital accessories.
According to Chuks, he was in the shop on recommendation of a
professional friend and has finished bargaining when he received a
call from his wife, and in a haste to pay since he was in a shop, left
his phone on the canter to bring out money from his pocket.
"After that I continued to remove the money from my pocket to pay,
when I was directed to go to a pigeon hole for the cashier, hence I
left my phone with the products bought on top of the canter, but on
completing payment, I discovered that a lady who attended to me has
taken the products down the other side of the canter but claimed she
did not touch my phone as it was no where to be find. Though she
agreed seeing me using it, few minutes ago," he complained.
Funny enough, when he requested for a phone to call the number, he was
taken aback as no one in that shop, about five in number, accepted
having credit on their phones, including their madam or even their
landline.
As Chuks was lamenting his ordeal, just outside the shop, Olujide
Aremu, another Lagosian, was at one side of number 10 Adepele Street,
counting his losses; having visited the market also penultimate
Monday.
For Olujide, he bought two software CDs - Adobe Photoshop 7.0 and
PageMaker 7.0, for the tune of N500 each and discovered later that
none was working, and on returning to the spot Tuesday, only to
discover the seller has shifted position, while the new person does
not know anything about the purchases or the former person occupying
the spot.
The stories of Messrs Chuks and Olajide represent daily occurrence at
the village and thus heightens the notoriety of the market for
stealing and pirated products, even being heaven for stolen ICT
accessories.
Though this seems to be a stigma but there must be a way out of the
woods, through restoring sanity in the market by ensuring that touts
and their acompliance shop-owners are eradicated from the market.
To a very large extent, it looks as if anybody who ventures into the
computer village for patronage must have a sad tale to tell.
And as such, it does not show that the current executive members of
CAPDAN and the Nigerian Police are doing enough in making the Computer
Village part of the global village at this era by ensuring it is less
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