This is not a joke!
The first mobile phone made in Nigeria has been launched.
The phone, called ITF Mobile, was presented to President Muhammadu Buhari by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, in Aso Rock Presidential villa on Wednesday, 9 June, 2021.
The 4G phone is one of 12 produced by the Model Skills Training Centre of the Industrial Training Fund, ITF.
The minister: “It gives me great pleasure, Mr President, to present you with one of the phones,” to the cheers and clapping from Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari, among others.
Foreign smart phones dominate the Nigerian market.
The minister says plans are on to mass-produce the ITF Android smart phone.
Nigeria, oil-rich and Africa’s most populous country and biggest economy, is heavily import-dependent and started manufacturing pencils a few years ago.
The government has responded by banning foreign exchange for import of items like toothpicks, table water, rice and cement.
Nigeria imports 300,000 tonnes of tomato paste from China annually.
An industry owned by Nigerian billionaire and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, opened a 1,200 tonne/day tomato plant six years ago.
By 2017, there was a destructive army worm infestation on tomatoes, forcing the company to idle for two years.
An estimated 200,000 people are involved in tomato farming in Nigeria.
A dispute over price with farmers followed and it is currently producing at 20% capacity because it does not have enough fruits to crush.
Nigeria’s population is 200 million and crude oil accounts for 90% of her exports.
She was hit hard by the oil crash that started in 2014 and Covid-19 pandemic.
Nigeria lost 42.248 million barrels of oil in 2019, valued at US $2.772 billion (at a price of US $65.61 per barrel for that year) due to crude oil theft and pipeline sabotage, according to the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI.
This was 21 per cent lower than the losses in 2018.
In June, 2021, Nigeria’s Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, said Nigeria was losing an average of 200,000 bpd to pipeline vandalism and it costs millions of dollars to repair vandalized pipelines.
With at least 90 million persons living in poverty, Nigeria’s number of persons living in extreme poverty exceeds that of India which has a population seven times higher.
photo credit: nan, allafrica, technext, bloomberg
Hi Mr. Obba,
Great work.
I have walked myself through your website page, it’s quite insightful but I’ve got few concerns.
Two (2) things:
1) How true is the Nigerian made phone; we would have appreciated it more if the details of the phone were displayed and not only being held close to the ear (pinna) of Mr. President as shown in the picture above.
2) The poverty level of Nigerians more than the Indians? That’s incredible! 🤭🥱😡
Nigerian government should be more proactive in their dealings.
Importation of farm produces that could be locally produced in a country that’s naturally blessed and endowed, it’s worrisome! We needed to have declared an emergency response.
To whom it may concern, need to start doing the needful. They know what is right, they should do it. More applied actions needed.
Regards,
Anne Garuba.
Thanks for your kind and incisive thoughts.
The phone works as it should as an Android (smart) phone.
The satire is that it’s nothing to celebrate by the giant of Africa and the report went on to try to say why?
Thanks again for finding the time to read us and for your observations which are well-noted.
We’re obliged and will continue trying to do better.
Thanks for the feedback.
I agree with you but you’ve only addressed one of my concerns.
We appreciate your follow-up.
That’s really kind of you and it shows you read us regularly.
Thank you.
You want to know details of the ITF (Nigerian) phone.
It works like any other android smart phone.
In Science journalism, we report inventions, something new altogether; or innovations, some improvement on what already exists.
The ITF phone does not qualify for any of these: it is no invention nor innovation.
Science is universal and there is no patriotism in science.
The mission of Science World is”Bringing you important discoveries and innovations in the world of science.”
We strive to live-up to our mission.
The ITF phone is however, a good way forward for Nigeria and we commend the effort.
Thanks again and hope you continue reading our website.