The Standards Organisation of Nigeria,(SON), has seized substandard tyres, roofing sheets, engine oil and other products worth over N2billion in the last three months.
SON also arrested and prosecuted over 10 suspected smugglers and importers of fake products in Lagos.
Addressing reporters in Lagos where the seized items were kept, the Director General of the Agency, Malam Farouk Salim, on Wednesday, said that despite the recent efforts of the regulatory agency, smugglers still use the nation’s sea ports to ship substandard products into the country and find their way into the Nigerian market because SON is not stationed at the port
Although the Director General did not give the actual amount of the seized items, but sources close to the agency said that the items worth more than N2billion.
Salim flayed the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) over the smuggling of substandard goods out of the nation’s sea ports.
The nation’s economy, Salim said, may continue to suffer huge losses owing to the preponderance of fake products in the market.
The Director General lamented that despite the fact that the agency has stepped up its war against the fakers are not being invited for joint examination by Customs to stem the tide of fake products coming into the country.
Customs officers, he said, are not trained in identifying fake products but to collect duty, hence the reason fake products are everywhere in the market.
His words: “I am unhappy that a few Nigerians sometimes in collusion with foreigners continue to endanger the lives and properties of our people in the quest to amass wealth, thus affecting our nation’s economy negatively.
“The products slated for destruction today include substandard electric cables, engine oil LPG, cylinders, tuffed new tyre, substandard and unapproved cigarettes and substandard low-grade Roofing Sheets worth billions of naira.”
“Some manufacturing companies in Nigeria boast of the best quality Electric Cables and Engine Oil, but some unscrupulous people continue to import and distribute low grade, substandard and life-threatening versions of these products in our markets.
“The dangers posed by these goods to the lives and properties of Nigerians, even if they are new, cannot be quantified. We will continue to say “no” to fake lubricants that knock motor and industrial engines which in turn lead to vehicle failures, leading to road mishaps and avoidable downtime in industries and consequential job losses. The engine oils seized were either faked in the names of puperior brands or concocted without the mandatory conformity assessment for quality assurance.”
