SON nabs vehicle lubricants counterfeiters, warns consumers

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has nabbed a syndicate that specializes in adulteration of engine oil for sale to unsuspecting members of the public.

SON Director-General, Osita Aboloma said that the arrest took place at tipper garage, in the Jaji area of Abuja, with SON operations team sealing the premises on which the illicit activity was being done.

Aboloma who was represented by the agency’s Director of Operations, Felix Nyado, during the operation said that investigations show that the men were used to picking spent containers of genuine engine oil with which they package their own fake brands and then sell to unsuspecting members of the public.

Aboloma noted that strong intelligence network led to their arrest, even as he urged consumers to be wary of the kind of engine oil they buy and also destroy emptied packaging materials or containers before disposing them as a way of checking the activities of the counterfeiters.

“Destroying the package after use will go a long way in curbing fake and substandard products in the market. Those empties are ought to be recycled and not to be picked at waste dumps and supplied to counterfeiters,” he said.

He equally advised Nigerians to continue to support the SON in its bid to rid the country of substandard products.Meanwhile, the DG also advised Nigerians to patronize only certified products to enable them to get value for their money.

He made the call at the SON special day at the ongoing 2017 Enugu International Trade fair, even as he appealed to entrepreneurs to subscribe to the SON mandatory conformity assessment programme scheme for the growth of their enterprises as well as their market share.

On export drive, he said the agency had been working hard to ensure that Made Nigeria Products especially farm produce, meet prescribed international standards and calibration.

“The issue of rejection of our products and produces anywhere in the world is gradually becoming a thing of the past as SON is poised to make Nigerian products and farm outputs the number one preferred in terms of quality and quantity specification”, he said.

Also speaking, the chairman of Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Rev Ugochukwu Chime, thanked the SON DG for participating in the trade fair and for stimulating economic growth through its activities.He said the agency had by its activities lent tremendous support to the economic development of the nation generally, and entrepreneurs particularly.