The Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Mallam Farouk Salim and other stakeholders in the maritime industry, have sought the Federal Government’s review of its position on the return of the SON back to the ports to strengthen its regulatory capacity and save the country from the influx of injurious goods.
Salim made the call yesterday, at a stakeholders sensitisation forum organised by the agency in Apapa, Lagos. The theme of the event was: Standards Save Lives, Grow Economy.
Speaking at the event, Salim urged Nigerians to stop importation of substandard products into the country and urged the importers to collaborate in using the same amount of money they used in the importation of goods to establish factories in the country and provide employment for the growing army of jobless graduates across the country.
The SON chief lamented that Customs is only doing random checking of 10 out of 100 containers coming to the ports and border stations which has resulted in the high influx of substandard products into the country.
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), had in the process of implementing the executive order on ease of doing business issued by the Vice- President Yemi Osinbajo, ordered SON and other related agencies that were affected to vacate the ports across the country. The then Managing Director of the NPA, Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman had said there were only seven agencies mandated to operate in the port, adding that any agency that is operating in the port outside of the approved agencies should vacate the ports
But the Acting-President, Association Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANCLA), Dr Kayode Farinto and other stakeholders are now canvassing for the return of SON to the port in his paper: Juxtaposing Substandard Imports and SON’s Absence at the seaport.
The ANLCA chief also flayed unpatriotic importers who out of greed importing substandard products into the country to maximise profits.
Farinto like other stakeholders, called on the Federal Government and managers of the economy to bring SON back to the nation’s seaports, adding that it is the best and surest way to stop substandard goods from coming into the country.
“The Standard Organization of Nigeria has vacated the seaports about few years ago, the intention of the government is to allow the Agency do the role of regulation outside the ports. However, the increase in the imports of sub-standard goods and the effort of some nonconformist have shown that there is need to reverse this executive decision if we must win this war against importation of sub-standard goods in our country.
“However, we, as stakeholders have role to play that is to ensure that we do not facilitate, the clearance of such injurious cargoes. Sub-standard goods are goods deviating from or falling short of a standard or norm such as: Of a quality lower than that is prescribed by law Juxtaposing sub-standard imports and SON’s absence of seaports.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) defines sub standard products as those products which are authorised but fail to meet their quality standards or specifications. Gentlemen/Professional Colleagues, once a product does not meet quality standard of specification such product are not supposed to be imported into the country because they are injurious to our health. It is rather unfortunate that, some unscrupulous importers out of greed will still want to import such products just to maximize profits,” Farinto said.
Another stakeholder, Mr Yinka Adegboyega urged the Federal Government to revisit the case, saying: “We cannot over emphasise the issue of standardisation, because it is the core of every manufacturing output. We are not happy that SON is not allowed to operate at its maximum capacity especially with their presence being felt at the port.
“Nigeria is import dependent with porous borders and for them not to be at the port to inspect these goods first hand is not good enough. They should be allowed to be at the port to see these products before they enter into the market.
“We have seen products coming into the country from countries that do not have standards and these goods are all cloned with SON logo, this is certainly not good for the Nigerian economy. If not for SON in its efforts to rid this country, they would have gone into the hands of the unsuspecting consumers, he said.
Speaking on the side line of the event, a maritime lawyer, Mr Oluwaseyi Muhammed urged Nigerians to support SON in its fight against substandard goods. He said: “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.”
The lawyer also 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 must collaborate with SON to collectively fight this battle against a substandard goods. We were not doing this before, but the new SON boss has told us and 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 need to contribute our own quota by lending our support to SON” he said.