HP warns Nigerians against buying fake products

Hewlett Packard (HP) Nigeria Limited, the producer of HP telecommunication equipment, on Wednesday warned Nigderians against buying fake products.

Jean-Paul Pinto, District Manager, English Africa, printing and Personal System of HP, said this in Abuja during the company’s 2014 Anti-Counterfeit Conference.

He said it was cheaper to purchase quality product than counterfeits and advised people to always check any product before purchasing it to get value for its price.

He said the company was carrying out enlightenment programme to educate Nigerians on the need to purchase quality products.


According to him, inferior products have caused immense reduction in global economic growth and have negative effect on businesses worldwide.

The district manager said consumers were at the receiving end for buying inferior products.

He said the company was strengthening its tentacles to tackle the increase in piracy of telecommunication and other products in the country.

“This conference is for us to combat illicit counterfeit practices, increase awareness and share best practices amongst government officials, law enforcement agencies, HP partners, customers and other stakeholders.

“In each year, businesses worldwide lose excessively due to counterfeiting and piracy, especially in the IT industry.

“Nigeria is one of the global largest mobile growths and it becomes necessary for us to raise this call because one in 10 IT products sold globally may be counterfeit.

Dr Joseph Odumody, the Director General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), said at the occasion that the organisation was working within its power to fight counterfeit in Nigeria.

“We have a bill before the National Assembly that will soon be passed into law; this is to combat inferior products by destroying them within 90 days and prosecute the importers and distributors.

“Government alone cannot fight this problem, Nigerians should collaborate with us; this conference will also enable us to collaborate more with the HP and other manufacturers to fight counterfeiting.

“Most importantly, the sole distributors contribute immensely to the sales of fake products in Nigeria; it is the responsibility of the manufacturers to put a check on their agents,” he said.

Culled from www.pmnewsnigeria.com