Mobile phone technicians want phones registered at point of purchase

MOBILE phones’ technicians have urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to mandate the registration of mobile phones at the point of purchase.

The technicians under the umbrella of the Association of Mobile Communication Device Technicians of Nigeria (AMCODET) made the appeal in Lagos recently.

The President, AMCODET, Mr Kehinde Apara, said that mandating registration of phones at points of purchase would help in curbing phone theft or in locating stolen phones.

“Registration of mobile phones will reduce theft to the barest minimum, as it will be difficult for thieves to sell registered stolen phones.

“We are calling for registration of new mobile phones because we believe it will also reduce harassment of our members by security agencies.

“So many of our members have been labelled accomplices in theft cases, because customers bring stolen phones to them to repair.

“We believe this is unfair on such innocent people,” Apara said.

According to him, the NIN-SIM linkage is the brainchild of AMCODET, noting that the idea was sold to the Nigerian Communications Commission to curb insecurity and theft but that it is not enough.

“AMCODET has been at the forefront of organising seminars on security of mobile phones, and have also been sensitising the public and authorities on the challenges faced by the association on phone theft.

“There is no way our members can identify if a phone is stolen when brought to them for repairs or flashing but if the phone is registered, the technician can more easily identify it.

“We want to work with security agencies to ensure that phones are properly registered, theft prevented and that thieves are brought to book,” he said.

Apara further called on individuals and the private sector to support its efforts to develop the mobile phone industry in Nigeria.

“We need individuals’ support to develop our industry, rather than relying on government for everything,” he said.

He stressed that with the support of individuals and the private sector, Nigerians could begin to develop their own technology rather than relying on imported technology.

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