During the raid, the agency seized substandard goods worth billions of naira, to drive home its commitment to zero tolerance for substandard goods in the country; a campaign which was introduced nearly two years ago.
The Head of Inspectorate and Compliance, Mr. Bede Obayi, explained that the unscrupulous activities plaguing the nation have refused to stop, maintaining that SON would continue in the fight till importers and manufacturers desist from the act.
During the enforcement exercise witnessed by the media, Obayi said these goods continue to find their way into the country through the ports destroying lives, property and hindering economic development.
“If you look at what we have here, these are various brands of substandard clippers, gas cylinders, lubricants, cables which we have intercepted from the warehouses as a result of our recent techniques of monitoring goods that are released at the ports without SON approving them,” he said.
According to him, the importers and manufacturers brand these products with already established brands and also classify it as SON-approved to deceive Nigerian consumers of their hard-earned resources.
“They are all fake and substandard goods, which they bring into the country to sell at cheap prices. By the time you use these products once, they get spoilt or might even make you lose your life and destroy your property,” he railed.
Obayi added that SON has acquired new machines and techniques in destroying fake cables to render it useless so that it does not find its way back into the Nigerian market, saying that cables are made up of 99 per cent copper and not iron, which is common with the fake and substandard cables.
“The only way we can do this is cut these cables and make them useless. Cables are made up of 99 per cent cable not iron. What we are having here is about 80 per cent iron and the resistance is very high which can lead to fire outbreak,” he stressed.
“These gas cylinders we have seized have nothing to show the quality characteristics; date it was made and the importers are on the run and this shows that these goods are substandard and we cannot allow this to go into the market because people will buy these products not knowing the dangers it would cause,” he said.
In his words, “We are fighting them and they know this, and yet they are still bringing it. We will not rest until they desist from this unscrupulous act. There is no hiding place for anybody, whether they pass through the port, we must pick it up from the warehouse.”
He pointed out that the Standard Organisation Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP) certificate is an accredited clearing document used in Nigeria and its partners outside the country to ensure that any product coming into the country must meet the minimum requirement set up by the agency.
“These products have entered Nigeria without SONCAP certificate and we are investigating. These products have being intercepted by SON because they came into the country without any quality certificate to show that the product is okay. We have intercepted about a N1 billion over the past one week and this to show that we mean business. We seize these goods on a daily basis and our men are out there 24 hours making sure that only quality goods come into the country,” Obayi said.
He appealed to the federal government to support SON in its effort to battle this crime stating the agency’s full capacity to tackle the menace.
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