Its end of the road for dealers of fake mobile telephones in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as officials of Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) have begun sealing off shops that sell substandard handsets.
The Assistant Chief of Standards at the agency, Mr Mamza Irimiya, who led the operation, advised mobile phone marketers to desist from selling phones that are not of standard.
During the operation, officials of the Standards Organizations of Nigeria interrogated some of the traders and asserted that the phones had health and environmental implications.
Although some of the shop owners disagreed with their claims, from one shop to another, they moved, determined to seal as many shops perceived to have erred.
Their action met resistance from some shop owners who asked the SON to beam its searchlight on the companies that supply them the phones and not vendors in this market.
This scenario reoccurred at different markets but the SON officials were not deterred as more seizures were made.
Meanwhile, the SON has said that further investigation would be conducted on the seized goods, before the sealed shops are reopened.
