The excitement around the made-in-Nigeria phone, ITF Mobile, presented to the President by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, has come under public scrutiny. Kenneth Eze, William Anaebonam and Samuel Mayowa in this article, examine if it’s a feat or myth.
“Those who know, however, maintained that the process of transforming a research product, commonly known as prototype, into a commercial product or brand is long, even in developed economies”
The public was jolted by the taking down and suspension of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet and Twitter handle, in quick succession by Twitter. His Twitter handle was frozen on June 2, 2021.
Nigerian government’s immediate reaction was a counterattack, by banning the social media platform from the country two days after, in a move perceived by many as returning fire for fire.
The people found themselves grappling with the dust raised and the heat being generated by Twitter’s attempt at enforcing international standards on use of the platform by President Buhari, and the trigger-pulling approach by the Nigerian government.
Twitter had accused the President of violating its rules, while the Federal Government counter-accused the platform of lending itself to causes threatening the country’s corporate existence.
Probably, the government felt rattled by the development, as it would have been unimaginable for any business, operating in Nigeria, to try to enforce a rule of any kind against a sitting president. This is not the United States of America.
The culture of impunity, prevalent among elected government officials in Nigeria had been such that those in authority didn’t have to weigh the implications of their actions.
Why should they?
The laws of the land provide that the President and even elected state governors cannot be answerable for any action while in office. They cannot be sued while in office. The Constitution calls it immunity.
And this class of politicians have ridden on the immunity clause several times in the past, in a manner that appears to have instituted impunity in government circles in Nigeria.
So, as Twitter’s action and the President’s reaction were dominating conversations, dividing opinions among the wailers and the hailers, with the neutrals watching the raging war of wits, the latter played the trump card by announcing a major breakthrough in technological development with the unveiling of a made-in-Nigeria phone, branded ITF Mobile.
The move, gained wide traction in the media, albeit momentarily.
The crux being that the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, presented the phone to the President, shortly before the commencement of the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, a few days ago.
With the euphoria dying down, not a few Nigerians have been left wondering if the presentation, which some have gone ahead to describe, as ‘hurried packaging,’ is anything more than a diversionary public relations’ stunt, to shift public attention from the Twitter brouhaha, a battlefront at which the General appeared to have found defeat staring him in the face.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the breakthrough was that the ‘prototype’, as an engineer who spoke to The Point, classified the phone, was still work-in-progress by researchers.
Her clear position was that, “being yet without verifiable efforts at both development and mass production or commercialisation, it would appear out of place to classify it as a product.”
Adebayo himself disclosed that 12 cell phones had been produced by the Electrical/Electronics Technology Department of the Industrial Training Fund’s Model Skills Training Centre, using, “locally sourced components.”
An apparently elated Minister further said, “It gives me great pleasure, Mr President, to present you with one of the phones.”
By the action and words credited to the Minister, it became apparent that, “Twelve indigenous mobile cell phones produced by the Model Skills Training Centre of the Industrial Training Fund; an agency under (the) Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment,” was deemed enough for the Nigerian government to formally unveil a local cell phone brand.
Those who know, however, maintained that the process of transforming a research product, commonly known as prototype, into a commercial product or brand is long, even in developed economies.
A good number of people reckon that Nigeria’s present investment climate means that, unless the FG is minded towards fostering a commercial partnership, the ‘invention’ would remain on the drawing board for a long time before tasting commercialisation.
The inference is drawn from the fact that no research institute in Nigeria has successfully commercialised a prototype to date. A pertinent question then would be, ‘has the ITF transformed into a manufacturing concern for the sake of mass producing its brand of cell phone?’
Okorie Blessing, an Electrical Electronics Engineer volunteered in a chat with The Point, that “every patriotic Nigerian should welcome the news. In fact, it’s good for the ears. But for the well-informed, there are several questions begging for answers.”
He reasoned that “some of the issues requiring clarification would have to be; what is the percentage of local raw materials in the prototype? And the so called locally sourced components, are they available in commercial quantity to support manufacturing?”
To lend credence to Blessing’s reasoning, Techwalla, an online tech platform, stated, “The metals in your cellphone also include rare metals of which 97 per cent are mined in China.”
Blessing told The Point about some obvious reasons major handset manufacturers used the Chinese location, including skilled labour and sourcing of raw materials. “These are some of the reasons most device manufacturers have their factories in that part of the world,” he said.
In a bid to shift attention to opinion molders, he said, “The media should dig into this matter. If the raw materials for the manufacture of handsets have been discovered in commercial deposits in Nigeria; where exactly? It’s also imperative to dig into who or which company would be commercialising the prototype, and under what terms and conditions.”
Interestingly, The Prizm Institute, Mumbai, India, listed six steps to manufacturing of smartphones on its site, which seemed to sum up Blessing’s and Techwalla’s position in one sentence.
“Right from the conception of the idea to the final outcome of the product, the journey is a steep mountain to climb,” it stated.
Sources contacted at the Ministry offered no idea on the willingness and ability of the Ministry to climb steep mountains, as they declined comments on the ground of not being “keen to dabble into politics.”
From Lagos Streets
However, some people who spoke to The Point, at the popular Computer Village, Ikeja expressed doubts over the ability of the newly launched locally made phone to penetrate the market, let alone challenge any already existing phone brand in sales or market share.
While most phone dealers and users who spoke to our Correspondent said they were not aware of the indigenous phone, neither had they come across anything of such, they said they didn’t expect the phone to ruffle feathers with any already established phone brand, because of Nigerians’ low zeal in patronage of locally manufactured goods.
Investigations among dealers and users of handsets in the Lagos area indicated that the efforts of the Federal Government to disrupt or divert public attention from the Twitter brouhaha made little impact, as a good number couldn’t recall hearing anything about a made-in-Nigeria phone.
However, many, easily recall the issues of President Buhari tweeting and being subjected to regulation by Twitter.
A phone dealer, Tony Chucks retorted, “Nigerian phone? Will people buy phones made in Nigeria? Well, when the phone gets to the market, we will be able to know that.”
He insisted that his position would be “wait and see”, saying, “But me, I won’t risk stocking, until I’m sure I will make sales from them.”
“This is the first time I’m hearing of it. If it is true, they should let us see the phone. it is when we see its specifications and workability that we will be able to know whether it will compete”
A phone user, Bright Ibosun, made an attempt at recounting other efforts by private businesses in time past to launch a Nigerian handset brand, without much success.
“I think some private companies in Nigeria have been producing phones before now. Where are their phones now? Well, we’ll see if this one will be different, because Nigerians don’t patronise locally made goods due to lack of trust and past unpalatable experience from buying locally manufactured products,” Ibosun said.
Another phone user, Olaolu Bala, reiterated Ibosun’s stance and wondered if the FG officials would themselves use the locally made phones.
He poured cold water on the razzmatazz by the government, drawing from his experience of Nigerians’ consumption patterns.
“The locally produced vehicles by Innoson, are they patronising him? Every day, they keep importing exotic foreign made vehicles. We don’t support our own. Even phones with new brand names that are foreign, people rarely buy them, let alone a locally produced phone,” he stated.
Another phone dealer at Ikeja, Benedicta Eze, said, “This is the first time I’m hearing of it. If it is true, they should let us see the phone. It is when we see the phone that we will be able to talk about that. That is, it is when we see its specifications and workability that we will be able to know whether it will compete with foreign made brands in the market. We can’t talk about it in absentia.”
From media sphere
When the matter was tabled before some leading Information and Communications Technology Editors in Lagos, the consensus resonated with Blessing’s stance that the claim should be subjected to dispassionate analysis.
The relevant segment of the media expressed reservations that such significant breakthrough could escape all the practitioners, throughout all the stages of research success, from conception to production.
One of the editors reasoned that, “apart from the lengthy time required, there are several landmarks, that the research institute ought to have proudly taken ownership of in the public space. This innovation cannot be a bolt out of the blues.”
Another editor noted, “This government has a well lubricated propaganda machine that would have ensured that each step of the making of a made-in-Nigeria phone would have been appropriated for public relations capital. Committees are being set up for everything and suddenly, we have a device being brandished before the world, as Nigerian made.”
The Minister had said that 12 phones were made. Watchers are, however, of the opinion that a dozen cannot constitute commercial quantity to give credence to the word ‘manufacture’, as the phrase ‘made-in-Nigeria’ connotes.
In a country with a Federal Cabinet of more than 36 people, as each state and the Federal Capital Territory must be represented by at least one person, as the law of the land provides, how would these 12 phones be shared, on the imagination that the breakthrough was found good enough for them to be interested?
Other contending issues include: how the FG would go about penetrating the Nigerian market with the phone, the availability of manufacturing components (raw materials) in the country for local production, and if the ITF would assume the role of a phone manufacturer by setting up a plant to help attain the objective.
