Market access into the biggest market in Africa: Nigeria

Abstract

Market Access determines the free flow of product at the international market. The market access depends on the components. In this paper, the components of the biggest market in Africa are discussed. The three components that facilitate the market access of the Information and Communication Equipment are: the Standards Organization of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Program (SONCAP), the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Type Approval and the Nigeria Customs Service Import Procedures. At the border, the NCS ensures that the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) and the NCC Rules are complied with before ICE can be imported into Nigeria. However, the NCC Regulation is based on the European Norms (EN) and deviates sometimes from the European Standards because of the peculiarity of the Nigerian environment. One of such is the Guideline for the Deployment of Broadband Service on 5.2GHz to 5.9GHz band. The paper elaborate the standards, the type approval process, the inherent risks and mitigation in the type approval procedure. The Radio and Telecommunication Terminal Equipment Directive applications as it relates to the NCC type approval are discussed vis-a-vis the NCC Type Approval Regulation, Guideline and other Nigerian Standards in equipment type approval.