SON, electronic dealers collaborate on market sanitisation

In a move to check continued influx of fake and substandard electrical and electronic products in the country, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has partnered Electrical Dealers Association of Nigeria (E‎DAN) to sanitise the electronic markets in the country.

The Acting Director General, SON, Paul Angya‎, explained that the agency has continued to receive complaints of people expressing concerns over the issue of substandard electrical and electronic products in the nation.

According to him, the partnership with EDAN will ensure that only standard electronic and electrical products ‎thrive in the nation’s market, stressing that the collaboration will also bring back the lost glory of Alaba market which used to be known as the biggest market in West Africa dealing with genuine electronic products.

Angya during a stakeholders meeting with EDAN in Lagos, added that going forward, the standards body has given the association a grace period of 3 months to clean up the Alaba market, saying that after the ultimatum, the agency will wield the big stick on erring dealers who continue to deal with fake and substandard products in the country.

“We are at war against substandard products and we are giving you three months within which you will come back and show us ‎your score card. Within these three months, we will also continue with our operations to compare with our own to see how far you have progressed and after the grace period, if we discover that there is no improvement, we will wield the big stick,” he said,

He said the thrust of the partnership is a continuation of its efforts ‎in ridding the Nigerian markets and the society of substandard products by engaging different sectors of the economy in the past three months to reduce the amount of substandard products that are circulating in Nigeria.

He pointed out that the association is one of the critical sectors because of the role electronics and electrical products play in the lives of people and the society, maintaining that to fight the scourge, SON will work with the association to sensitise its members through workshops, mentorship programmes and awareness campaigns on the need to patronise only quality products.
“By the time we are through with our interactions with different vital sectors of the economy and also implementing and enforcing our mandates, we believe we will bring succour to the ordinary man on the street, we believe it will change the man, it will change the landscape, reflects on the pockets of people and also on the quality of lives of people,” she said.

Also speaking during the event, the Chairman, EDAN‎, Martins Egbeyiugo, said the association had always worked with SON to deliver on its mandate of ensuring that only standard products thrive in the nation’s markets, saying that the association is restating its commitment to achieve this feat.

He said the association is setting up a standards committee that would operate like SON to combat fake and substandard products in the market, assuring the Director General of the association’s 100 per cent commitment to combat the menace.

“Our government is a new government like yours and I want to assure you that going forward, you will be pleased by the progress the committee has made when we come back to show you our score card,” he said.