General News
IT Counterfeiting is Economic Sabotage – Amuchinwa
Rita Amuchienwa is the channels programme and infrastructure manager (English Speaking Africa), Hewlett-Packard (HP). She has over 11 years of professional channel sales and development experience in the IT Industry in Africa.
Amuchienwa knows the nitty-gritty of partnership business and channel management. She spoke to peter ugwu on the pains and gains HP has recorded so far in its push against fakers of her products.
Fighting Counterfeit
We are stopping at nothing to see how best we can manage and reduce the faking of our products to about 90 per cent or totally eradicate it.
We have engaged tirelessly on educating people and awareness creation to inundate them on the differences between our products and others, especially the counterfeits.
We are also collaborating with some agencies like the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON); the collaboration is for them to assist us in eradicating some of these things.
HP, as a company employed some individuals who work as pseudo-partners (face-less) to check on our partner premises unannounced, check what they do – if they are mixing our products with fakes.
So, we receive feedback from them. And if any of our partner is caught sabotaging our efforts we actually sanction them.
Counterfeiting Implies
Fake simply means refilling of HP products into another cartridge using our logo or emblem or hologram without our knowledge and portraying same as genuine HP product.
The perpetrators of such crime refilled these implements without our permission.
Deterrents
Those who were caught in the past, were sanctioned and we removed them from our partnership programme.
We further make public announcements to sensitise customers on their state of relationship with us, so that they stop patronizing them or buying HP products from them since they deal on counterfeit HP products. We also ensure they are listed on our official website.
Collaboration with the Customs
HP is a global brand. We collaborate with the Customs because we are focused on every necessary step to tackle the problem through alliance with bodies involved in trade.
And Nigeria customs personnel are quite relevant in what we are doing because they are always at the ports and will be apt in checkmating the entry and exit of fake products in the country.
Impacts of Counterfeits
The first thing one must bear in mind is that it will spoil your product or printer.
So, on the customers’ side when they are buying fake toner or ink it does not anchor well with their equipment, which continues to economic lose.
And it voids the warranty that HP gives out to customers.
It also brings down time on their side; their time will be pending the time such printer is restored.
That is why we would always ask them to watch out where they buy their products.
Training
Basically, the people we call our partners do not sell fake products. We have a group we call preferred partners and unattended partners.
The unattended partners carry out their programmes without consulting HP; they are not part of our partnership venture, probably they have not heard about this platform.
In fact, counterfeiting is driven by avalanche quest for quick money.
And we have a lot of them; people who would enter into business without even learning what are involved rather they are desperate to make money.
However, we don’t just hand pick anybody to be part of this partnership.
They are criteria.
Product Authentication
We are engaging the IT platform or product authentication because we believe ICT is relevant in fighting counterfeiting.
Meanwhile, during our events we get feedback from people and get them back to our headquarters where those involved in research and development (R&Ds) would ultilise them optimally and subsequent implementation.
So, on yearly basis HP engages on trends aimed at combating the counterfeiting menace. Before now there is what is called HP-Invent, a structure that enables us come up with new things.
HP is determined stop at nothing to see that people are empowered to have value for what they do particularly now the emphasis is ICT.
Nigeria and other Africa Markets
The Nigerian market is not there yet, but we have done a lot, which means we will get to our destination soon
We have gone more than halfway.
However, I can assure you that African markets are the same in terms of identification of products and the counterfeiting headache.
I manage about 20 English speaking countries in Africa and can tell you that no country you would say is worse or better than the other because it is like we have the same life style. Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra-Leone, Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, name them, we are all the same. And we speak English language.
The only difference is that we have different dialects. And that tendency of quick-fix is always in Africans.
But this anti-counterfeiting message is taking place in all the countries that I manage.
Changing of Logo
Why we oftentimes change our logo is because we found out initially that the fakers would always copy our logos.
That prompted us to frequent changing of the logo or emblem to something more fantastic and difficult for them to copy.
For instance, the new hologram we have has proved difficult for them to copy because of the twist on it. So, we have maintained the hologram because it is something somebody somewhere cannot just copy and paste.
Government Regulations
There are a lot of areas government needs to come in, although they have been trying on their own part.
For instance, if all should embrace the intellectual property law, some of these things would not come up.
Having said that, government has to intensify public campaign against counterfeit, because the more people become aware about the regulation the more abating it will become.
We need to pursue more vigorously the issue of getting people become computer literate. Such empowerment would help in championing collaborative spirit in fight against crime in the society, because everybody will be involved.
Impact of R&D
The impact has been very massive.
If not through the R&D, people would not know there is something like anti-counterfeiting war going on.
Although we spend a lot on it on yearly basis, but it has helped us a lot.
Ugo Nwokolo, Nollywood actor, has shared a controversial opinion on internet fraud, saying it has been keeping the nation’s economy afloat amid a tougher economic climate.
Ugo Nwokolo, Nollywood Actor
Nwokolo made the assertion in a video interview currently circulating on social media.
According to the actor, the cost of living and soaring house rent have made life unbearable for legitimate income earners.
He said high rent in major cities like Lagos and Abuja has edged out those earning N50,000 and N90,000 monthly.
Nwokolo said, “Personally, I think Yahoo has helped keep the economy afloat. Do you expect a civil servant to afford house rent of N3 million or N5 million in Abuja?”
The actor maintained that only the rich, including fraudsters, could meet up with the rising cost of living.
“If you go to Lagos now, the least you’ll see for a two-bedroom apartment is about N7 million or N8 million. Who is supposed to afford it? The civil servants? Of course, it’s the fraudsters,” he stressed.
However, he argued that he was not justifying crime but merely stating fact.
“I’m not justifying crime, but yes, Yahoo is helping the economy. How do you expect people to live in this kind of economy?” he said.
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, plans to dedicate one-third of his wealth to charity as part of his succession plan, Halima Dangote, his daughter, has revealed.
Aliko Dangote
Halima, a trustee of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, disclosed this in an interview with Bloomberg published on Tuesday, saying the billionaire had secured the support of his family to commit 33 per cent of his estate to philanthropy.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Dangote’s net worth is estimated at $35.1 billion, meaning one-third of his current wealth would be worth about $11.7 billion if his fortune remains at that level.
Halima explained that her father views philanthropy as a key part of his legacy and has incorporated it into the family’s long-term succession plans.
She said Dangote had structured his estate to ensure that charitable giving continues across generations, particularly in areas such as healthcare and education.
“He sort of put all the structure in place whereby we focus a lot on health and education. He actually donated 25 per cent to the foundation. If you look at it, it is what we call in Sharia Code in Islam; it means he has donated 33 per cent of his whole inheritance to his foundation,” she said.
Halima added that Dangote believes giving back is central to the success of his businesses and the family’s values.
She said the billionaire asked her, her two sisters, and his mother to sign the agreement allowing 33 per cent of his inheritance to be dedicated to humanitarian causes.
The planned donation builds on Dangote’s longstanding philanthropic activities through the Aliko Dangote Foundation, which was established in 1994.
According to Halima, the foundation received an endowment of $1.25 billion about a decade ago and has since received an additional $700 million in funding.
She said about 70 per cent of the foundation’s spending goes to programmes in Nigeria, while 20 per cent supports projects across Africa, with the remaining funds directed to initiatives in other parts of the world.
The foundation’s interventions focus on healthcare, education, nutrition, and humanitarian support, including partnerships that contributed to the eradication of wild poliovirus in Africa.
Dangote’s planned charitable commitment adds to increasing global attention on billionaire philanthropy.
Although the proposed 33 per cent allocation is below the 50 per cent commitment associated with the Giving Pledge, it would rank among the largest philanthropic commitments announced by an African billionaire.
Earlier this year, Dangote was named among the world’s most influential philanthropists by TIME magazine’s inaugural TIME100 Philanthropy list, recognising the impact of the Aliko Dangote Foundation, which reportedly spends more than ₦50 billion annually on programmes across Africa.
Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC), has said that there are plans for Nigeria to begin to generate electricity from nuclear sources.
Mr Anthony Godwin Ekedegwa, chief executive, NAEC stated this when he recently visited Mr Umar Yusuf Girei, acting managing director, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA),in Abuja.
He was at NIWA’s office to solicit the support of NIWA in achieving the numerous advantages of using nuclear energy technology in the country.
According to him, the partnership of critical stakeholders in Nigeria will position the country well in developing and maintaining its nuclear power plant.
The NAEC chief said Nigeria intends to begin the generation of electricity from nuclear sources instead of fossil-based power plants and hydro-based power plants, stressing that for Nigeria to develop, there is a need for the country to diversify its energy needs.
In his remarks, Mr Girei assured NAEC of his agency’s readiness to collaborate on the advancement of a nuclear power plant in Nigeria.
He promised the full support of NAEC for the success of a nuclear power plant in the country, saying that as the organisation saddled with the responsibility of regulating and developing Nigeria Inland Waterways, his entity is strategically positioned to play a critical role in the federal government’s quest for sustainable energy through the new technology.
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