The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has declared its support for the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) initiative to promote local smartphone manufacturing. This move is seen as a practical measure to accelerate broadband adoption and expand digital inclusion across the country, as reported by the News Agency of Nigeria.
ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, conveyed these remarks to newsmen on Saturday. His comments were in response to earlier statements by NCC Board Chairman Idris Olorunnimbe, who had advocated for local smartphone production and innovative financing models to bridge Nigeria’s digital inclusion gap.
Nigeria's Manufacturing Ambition
Adebayo stressed that Nigeria must intentionally shift from being primarily a technology consumer to becoming an innovator, designer, and manufacturer of digital technologies. He highlighted the country’s large telecommunications market and youthful population as crucial assets for supporting world-class manufacturing.
He further explained that Nigeria’s ambition in local manufacturing should extend significantly beyond merely assembling imported components into finished devices. Adebayo stated, “Our ambition should extend beyond assembling devices. We must pursue genuine knowledge transfer, research and development, product engineering, software development, semiconductor capabilities and large-scale manufacturing.”
The ultimate goal, according to Adebayo, should be to produce devices and digital technologies not just for Nigeria, but also for the broader African and global markets.
AI and Counterfeit Devices
Adebayo noted that the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has further strengthened Nigeria’s opportunity to become a competitive technology manufacturing hub. He pointed out that AI is transforming product design, manufacturing, quality assurance, supply chain management, customer experience, and software innovation.
Investing in AI-enabled manufacturing, he believes, would improve productivity, create high-value jobs, and bolster Nigeria’s competitiveness across Africa. On the issue of tackling counterfeit and non-type-approved devices, Adebayo described the grey market as a major challenge affecting consumers, original equipment manufacturers, and the wider telecommunications ecosystem.
He asserted that robust local manufacturing, backed by strong quality standards, would provide credible alternatives to grey-market imports. This approach would strengthen consumer protection, improve network performance, retain greater value within the economy, and stimulate industrial growth.
Partnerships and Affordability
Adebayo also endorsed innovative smartphone financing, stronger device management systems, and identity-enabled credit frameworks to help more Nigerians afford quality smartphones. He affirmed that telecom operators remain ready to partner with government, manufacturers, financiers, academia, investors, and development partners to build sustainable local manufacturing capacity in Nigeria.
His comments align with remarks made by NCC Board Chairman Idris Olorunnimbe at a Digital Africa Summit Roundtable in Shanghai. Olorunnimbe had identified smartphone affordability, rather than network coverage or data costs, as Nigeria’s biggest remaining digital inclusion challenge.
Olorunnimbe described affordable smartphones as the “new on-ramp” to education, healthcare, financial services, e-commerce, and digital government. He underscored how central device affordability has become to Nigeria’s broader digital economy ambitions, calling for coordinated action on local manufacturing, trusted devices, financing, and policy reforms.
Related Policy Support
Adebayo’s recent comments follow ALTON’s earlier support for a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive on local hosting of payment transaction data. Nairametrics previously reported that ALTON stated this CBN directive would help reduce Nigerian banks’ and fintechs’ exposure to foreign exchange volatility.
The CBN directive mandates banks, fintech companies, and other payment service providers to store payment transaction data generated within Nigeria on local servers from January 1, 2027. This policy forms part of the CBN’s broader efforts to strengthen regulatory oversight of the country’s rapidly expanding digital payments ecosystem.
