​The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has warned Nigerians against using substandard phones.

It said such was responsible for some of the cancer ailments being suffered by the citizens.

The regulatory body also identified unapproved phones as a major cause of network interruptions, which it said were also having negative implications on health of users.

Addressing phone sellers on Thursday at Fayose Market in Ado Ekiti during a stakeholders’ sensitization workshop, an official of the NCC, Engr. Kunle Olorundare lamented that fake phones had taken over the country’s markets.

At the workshop organized by Ibadan zonal office of the NCC, Olorundare said the preponderance of substandard phones was causing colossal damage to network services and health of users.

Olorundare warned that sellers of unapproved ICT products were flouting the NCC act and could face prosecution or seizure of their market items if they did not desist from selling such.

He advised the phone sellers to ensure the phones they buy from manufacturers and dealers were approved by the NCC.

Another official of the NCC, who represented the Head of Zonal Operations in Abuja, Mr. Ekisola Oladosu, frowned on the proliferation of substandard phones and other ICT products in the country.

Oladosu promised that NCC would do all within its powers to check the situation, noting that the task of sanitising the Nigerian phone market hangs on all stakeholders.

The President, Fayose Market Traders’ Association, Mr. Kehinde Badmus, praised the NCC for the enlightenment seminar, assuring that the Association would cooperate with the commission to achieve its goals.