NASS Urges FG To Return SON To Ports … As SON Launches Technology To Tackle Fake Import Certificates

Members of the National Assembly (NASS) has frowned at the lingering absence of the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) from the nation’s Ports since 2011, saying that this is paving way for substandard and prohibited goods to freely enter the country.

Enitan Dolapo-Badru, chairman House committee on industry who disclosed this recently when he lead his Committee Members on an overnight function to SON laboratory in Lagos said the members are resolute at ensuring that  the identified challenges are resolved soonest in order to expedite the return of SON back to the ports.

He lamented that the continued absence of SON officials who legally and professionally are more disposed to conducting test and physical examination of goods imported into the country has caused havoc to the economy and the loss of lives of innocent Nigerians who use such poor quality products.

“A lot of deaths from substandard products are recorded on a daily basis in the country. Tanker explosions, building collapses, fire resulting from poor electrical and electronics products, to mention a few.

“It is unthinkable that iron rods, vehicular tyres, gas cylinders, generators, etc are being imported into the country and SON is being prevented from entering the Ports to certify the goods before they enter the markets. This is so sad, he stressed.

Badru who insisted that Act2015 made it mandatory for SON to be at the ports, promised that his 18-Member Committee will do everything within their legislative powers to ensure that this anomaly is corrected, saying that; “We cannot substitute ease of doing business with quality or standards of products imported into the country”.

Also speaking at the occasion, Director General of SON, Malam Farouk Salim stated that despite the many challenges of the agency, SON is doing everything to ensure goods consumed in the country are of international standards

This according to him explains why SON is entering into strategic partnership with state governments to broaden the reach of its services through the establishment of more laboratories nationwide.

Salim disclosed that majority of the state governors are very keen at the partnership as about eight of them have allocated land and properties to SON in the last one month.

It could be recalled that the minister of industry, trade and investment Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, while commissioning SON office complex and laboratory in Ekiti State recently, lamented that Federal Government (FG) was pained over hundreds of thousands of Nigerian lives cut short as a result of substandard and life threatening products peddled around the country.

The minister listed such products to include poor steel and roofing sheets, adulterated lubricants, explosion from continuous usage of old and expired Lignified Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders, fire hazards from substandard electrical cables and retreaded vehicular tyres.

The Director General, SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, said SON has launched a sophisticated technology to address forgery of its import certificate documents, noting that the move was necessary in a bid to combat the preponderance of fake and substandard goods as over 85 per cent of goods are currently being imported through the ports.

SON DG who stated this during the House of Representatives Committee on Industry oversight function to SON Ogba laboratory in Lagos, however urged the committee to support SON’s quest to establishing more laboratories in the country, stressing that the agency is inundated with so many goods to certify, monitor and test.

“It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the only laboratory in the country that serves about 200 million people. The significance of your presence is the fact that you would see for yourself the amount of work we are doing and the amount of work we need to do  to make this country safer, to make our industries competitive and to protect our people from substandard goods,” he said.

He added that the oversight function cannot be overemphasized at a time when the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is in full force, stating the need to develop the nation’s testing capacity to address unscrupulous elements who would want to use the trade pact to make Nigeria a dumping ground.

“Presently, our industries are at a disadvantaged position because they cannot expand export because we need to have enough capacity to test, monitor and certify local products, we need even more capacity to make sure that we train the small scale industries in the country.

“ In that light, we have signed lots of Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with several Governors and ministries in various states to help SMEs package, label and manufacture their products and certified for exports.

“We have potentials to do even more and we have lots of responsibilities but little tools to work with,” he said.

He added that SON would be increasing its collaboration with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) especially in the nation’s oil and gas sector, adding that SON recently just launched a more secured certification process to address issues of faking and forging of SON certificate.

The SON boss said it is taking the gospel of standardization to every part of the country, adding that most of the Governors that the agency has been privileged to meet have been welcoming restating their commitment to work with SON by way of providing lands for the establishment of State offices and laboratories.

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dolapo Badru, said only physical examination is one of the surest ways to address the influx of substandard goods into the country.

According to him, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) does not have the capacity to test for goods at the entry point, maintaining that the absence of SON at the nation’s ports is responsible for the influx of substandard product into the country.

“ Ordering SON out of the ports will only spell doom for the nation’s local products while also putting the lives of many unsuspecting Nigerians to risk.

In his words: “We are very resolute in our efforts to make sure that issues hindering the agency’s operations are addressed because of influx of substandard products,” he siad

He reaffirmed the House Committee’s commitment to returning the standards body back to the ports, assuring SON of the leadership of National Assembly’s involvement.

“It is so sad and we have risen to send a resolution backed by the house, but yet nothing has been done. Since then and now, there have been thousands of avoidable deaths. We insist that physical examination is the only way to stop influx of substandard goods coming in through the ports, he said.

According to hi, the Act that sets up SON clearly stipulated that SON should be at the ports. We will on our own start up this process again and this time we will involve the leadership of the National Assembly,” he added.

“The NCS are not trained in detecting substandard products coming into the country, so eliminating SON from the ports is a recipe for disaster. We as a committee, we have to take this up and we assuring you of our support to get SON back at the ports.