COUNTERFEITING means copying an original item, especially consumer products, with the intent of deceiving or defrauding the buyers. Unfortunately, counterfeiting has become so pervasive in Nigeria that it involves every consumer product in the market place, ranging from household items to automobile spare parts, telecommunication devices, household items, among others. The ill of counterfeiting is sometimes perceived by society as a victimless crime with fakes simply constituting a cheap alternative purchase. At other times, consumers are constrained by ignorance, poverty, inability to detect counterfeit products. They simply go ahead to purchase fake products that may be rather harmful to them. Incidentally, the case of consumers and buyers of mobile phones and their accessories is not different, as many consumers opt for substandard or counterfeit mobile phones because they are cheap and looks like the originals. All these are informed mainly by the advancement and sophistication of counterfeits in recent times and compounded by the lack of zeal of producers to partner with regulators in the education of consumers and removal of fake products from the market. In-spite of the efforts made by government agencies like the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (Son) to combat counterfeiting in Nigeria, the business appears to have taken a foothold to the detriment of consumers, manufacturers and government alike.
From: Business World
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