Nigerians spend a total of $2.35bn importing mobile handsets over the last three years

NIGERIA spent a total of $2.35bn on phone imports over the last three years purchasing mobile handsets and ancillary parts as the nation buys about 63m devices per annum according to recent data just published by the International Trade Centre (ITC).

Apparently, Nigeria spent $807.95m on phone set imports in 2019, $765.57m in 2020 and $772.25m in 2021 according to the ITC. These imported telephone sets included smartphones, facsimile machines for line telephony, teleprinters, parts of telephone sets and other spare parts.

Most of the phone sets coming into the country were from China, which accounted for $1.71bn worth of imports, with the rest coming from Hong Kong, Sweden, the US, the Netherlands, Vietnam and Mexico. According to the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), quoting data from Original Equipment Manufacturers, about 63m technology devices are sold in Nigeria every year.

Also, the commission revealed that there were about 132m unique devices on the nation’s telecommunication network in 2020 with the average owner changing a device every six months. Emmanuel Osho, the managing partner of Bodds IT Solutions, added that Nigerians spent a lot on devices as the market grew larger every year.

He said: “An average person in their 20s and 30s has like two or three devices which include laptops, phones, and others. To be honest, the market could run into billions as the second-hand product market is larger because of the low purchasing power required but the majority of the buyers of new devices are organisations.”

Computer and Allied Product Dealers Association of Nigeria spokesman Solagbade Olaifa, revealed that about N5bn worth of devices was being sold at Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos yearly. He had disclosed that Nigeria did not have the technology to produce devices yet, so the purchases are all imports.

Mr Olaifa said: “We do not have the technology to produce now but we can fund part of it. We cannot produce as a whole because for every device, even over there, there are different companies that produce its components.

"It is not only one company that produces every component of the devices. However, Nigeria can start somewhere.”

According to Counterpoint Research’s Global Monthly Handset Sales Tracker, annual smartphone sales in Nigeria grew by 81% year-on-year during the course of 2021. Nigeria's phone industry is dominated by foreign players such as Tecno, Samsung and Itel.

While Nigeria has the seventh-highest number of phones in the world, according to the World Population Review, its local phone manufacturing industry is totally non-existent. Attempts to kick-start the sector through manufacturing have at best failed to flatter.