National President Iron Rod and Steel Dealers Employers Union of Nigeria, Chief Gbenga Awoyale has said that persistent production and circulation of substandard iron rods in the Nigerian market remains one of the gravest threats to public safety in the country.
He added that the recent events once again underscore the tragic cost of inaction, Chief Awoyale said in a statement.
The statement reads: “The persistence of this crisis confirms that the challenge is not a lack of dialogue or diagnosis, but a lack of political resolve.
The collapse of a three-storey building in Rivers State, with several Nigerians injured, is not an isolated occurrence.
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“It is part of a disturbing pattern that has repeated itself across states and administrations. Official findings attributing such collapses to the use of substandard materials merely confirm what has been widely known within the industry and repeatedly acknowledged by policymakers.
“These tragedies are not acts of fate; they are the outcomes of systemic regulatory failure and deliberate compromise.”
Despite this awareness, decisive legislative and oversight action has remained elusive. Several attempts by the National Assembly to summon relevant regulatory institutions, particularly the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), as part of efforts to get to the root of the matter, have reportedly been frustrated by non-appearance and institutional resistance. What is deeply troubling is the apparent reluctance of the National Assembly to take critical action in response to this refusal to honour legislative summons, despite its constitutional authority to do so.
This failure has weakened oversight, emboldened regulatory impunity, and allowed dangerous practices to continue unchecked.
“At the heart of this failure lies the compromised enforcement of standards. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria, which should serve as the nation’s first line of defence against unsafe products, has been gravely undermined by internal corruption and sabotage. Of particular concern is the situation in Lagos State, Nigeria’s industrial hub.