SON, market leaders seek ways to check influx of substandard goods

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has partnered Balogun Business Association (BBA) to combat the preponderance of fake and substandard in the country.

The Director General, SON, Osita Aboloma, explained that this move was the agency’s resolve to work together as a team to surmount the menace of substandard goods edging out quality products in the market.

Aboloma, while receiving members of the BBA who sought collaboration with SON to such end, said, “We have agreed to work together and they have agreed to collaborate with us by imbibing the culture of quality assurance and reporting to us whenever they see something unwholesome.

“Some of these traders are law-abiding; what we intend to do is to beam the search light of quality assurance on the market to take out the non-conforming and substandard goods.”

He noted that SON decided to partner with the association because it is the biggest single market in West African region, pointing out that the association is the best and the most reasonable place to start our fight against substandard goods.

“We want to them to know that if they certify and register their products, they will not be affected by the wrath of the law.

We are coming against the perpetrators of substandard goods with all the laws available to us as an agency.

It is no longer going to be business as usual. It is either you close your shops, move away from our markets or you have us to contend with,” he warned.

In his response, the Chairman of the Board, BBA, Trade Fair Complex, Okey Ezibe, expressed the association’s willingness to support SON in its fight against substandard goods.

In his words: “We have to realise that the present Director General has new ideas to combat the menace of substandard goods.

Any country without standards is doomed to fall and we have listened to him and he is committed to fighting the preponderance of fake and substandard goods.”

He added: “We will give him our maximum support. We have decided to turn a new leaf and we will sink this message into the minds of our people.

We have extended our invitation to the Director General to visit the trade Fair complex and see firsthand on how we do things.

There are local arrangements to check the excesses because we are the losers at the end of the day. If people go overseas to bring in substandard goods only for it to be destroyed, then we have lost revenue and businesses.”

He however called on the managers of the economy to bring SON back to the nation’s seaports, adding that this is the easiest and safest way to stop these goods from coming into the country.

“These goods are better checked at the ports not in the markets.

Dealing in fake and substandard products is a crime to humanity and poses great danger for the nation’s economy, as a result of this, we have decided to collaborate with SON to collectively fight this battle against a substandard goods.

We were not doing this before, but the SON boss has convinced us that this is the only way out to stamp out these goods.

We have seen his desires and commitment to fighting this war and we would contribute our own quota by lending our support,” he added.