General Manger, Microsoft Nigeria, Mr. Emmanuel Onyeje

Amaka Eze

In a bid to stop  the selling of its  pirated products in the Nigerian market, Microsoft Nigeria has taken a proactive step by inaugurating the ‘Clean Dealer Campaign’ for its partners.

The ‘Clean Dealer Campaign,’ is an initiative which allows partners and retailers of Microsoft products, go into an agreement to sell, as well as promote the sales of only genuine Microsoft products. They are also committed to refrain from selling counterfeits.

According to the General Manger, Microsoft Nigeria, Mr. Emmanuel Onyeje, who addressed newsmen in Lagos at the inauguration, Microsoft has remained passionate towards anti-piracy and clean dealership with it partners and distributors, thus the need for the partnership.

Onyeje noted that the efforts to fight piracy in the market might  not have yielded the expected results in the past, he assured that  this new effort of working directly with the partners  would bring about a positive result.

“Microsoft’s tactics have remained the creation of accessibility, affordability, awareness, and now a direct partnership with the partners themselves. These initiatives are hinged on educating both the end users as well as the Microsoft partners on the value of buying and using genuine Product,” he said.

On her part, the Anti-Piracy Manager for Microsoft, Mrs. Ugochi Agoreyo, said the campaign is a new start in the face of the fight against piracy.

 “The issue of piracy and intellectual property theft is of great concern because of the adverse effects the illegal activities of some counterfeit dealers have on the businesses of honest dealers, especially those operating in the Computer Village popularly referred to as Otigba.

“The clean dealer campaign is the dynamics of who is willing to do the right thing for the right measures., because the campaign between Microsoft and its partners will not only promote the sales of Microsoft genuine products, but will also put the recognised partners on the limelight as the registered dealers of Microsoft,” she said.

Agoreyo added that the campaign would  create a platform for Microsoft to engage its partners on a third quarterly basis, in order to promote and ensure the continued sales of genuine products. The licence will run for a period of one year, after which the team from Microsoft will re-validate the partnership, once the partner is not found wanting.

She said, “Microsoft will support the partners and retailers of its genuine products as the primary source of obtaining or buying the products by updating their names on its websites.”

Certificates of authenticity, a physical way of identifying if genuine products are being sold in a particular shop was also handed over to 32 clean dealers who have sighed in for the partnership.