The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has expressed its resolve to diligently prosecute manufacturers and distributors of substandard steel products in the country.

Chairman of SON Special Task Force, Enebi Onuchenyo, made this known in a statement.

Onuchenyo said the agency has been inundated with complaints from distributors over the poor quality of steel and iron rods in the country.

His words: “There are claims that there are substandard iron rods in the market. This was why we embarked on aggressive nationwide monitoring and got useful information which helped us to track some of those behind this unscrupulous act.

“Two steel companies were found non-compliant to the requirements of the Nigeria Industrial Standards (NIS 117) and global best practices.

“The two were shut down, and their products put on hold. After due diligence and investigation, the products were subjected to testing, and they failed in some basic parameters.

“We move swiftly to ensure the products found in the factory were cut to sizes, and remelted under our watchful supervision. This will prevent the products from going into circulation.”

Onuchenyo warned that any steel manufacturer caught circumventing quality assurance requirements henceforth would be prosecuted in line with the SON Act 14 of 2015.

“We want to reiterate that compliance with quality and standards would guarantee local and international patronage of steel products manufactured in Nigeria.

We advise steel makers not to undermine one another through the production of substandard steel reinforcement bars, using the name and code of rival firms and competitors,” he added.

Such an act, according to him, is detrimental to the unsuspecting end-users of the products.

He reassured of the agency’s commitment to ensuring the safety of lives and properties of Nigerians, which he said, largely informs SON’s recent nationwide monitoring of steel production.