The Nation Newspaper

Tag: products

  • Group unveils made-in-Nigeria products online

    An online shop for made-in-Nigeria products has been launched in Lagos to encourage people to buy and patronise indigenous products and to encourage youths in skills acquisition.

    It is also said to be the gateway to Nigerian products to satisfy the needs of the people.

    The portal, www.ziino.com.ng, is one- stop online shop for made-in- Nigeria products. These, include fashion, fabrics, home appliances, beauty products, electronic appliances, cosmetics, fabricated machines, play toys, furniture among others

    The online store, which is a subsidiary of Ziino Universal and Energy Solution, has branches in Lagos and Port Harcourt

    Chief Executive Officer of the group, Obibi Ziino, who spoke with The Nation in Lagos, said the essence of launching the online store was to encourage the people to buy and patronise made in Nigeria products and to also encourage youths in skills acquisition.

    According to him, the online store was built to promote the essential value of Nigerian products, adding, “Whatever you buy from Ziino online store you can be sure of the best quality and standard.”

    Meanwhile, the group has organised a contest captioned: “Arts and crafts online competition. The executive officer said the aim was to allow people use their skills to make great impact in life.

    “It is true that people appear to be sceptical about Nigerian products, nevertheless, these products are durable, classic and affordable,”he maintained.

    He said the online store is currently running promotion on its portal tagged, ‘Rap up Sales’ for the month of February.

    “When you order from the Rap up Category, you get 60 per cent off every item and have it packaged and sent to your loved ones,” he said

  • Stallion NMN unveils Infiniti products

    Stallion NMN unveils Infiniti products

    Stallion NMN, the Nissan brand marketer in Nigeria has announced the inclusion of Infiniti brand amongst its product range.

    The Infiniti brand which was officially introduced in North America in 1989 is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker – Nissan with direct equivalents in the Nissan product line-up.

    More than 200,000 Infiniti vehicles was sold worldwide last year with America’s 133,500 vehicles toping the sales chart followed by China’s 40,000, Canada – 11, 300 and Europe’s 7,000 including unavailable sales data in the Middle East.

    Stallion NMN, who became Nissan brand custodian in May 2013, has already taken delivery of three Infiniti variants including the Q50 (sedan), QX70 and QX80 SUVs respectively and are all available in Stallion NMN accredited Nissan showrooms.

    Addressing the media at the product launch, Stallion NMN Managing Director Parvir Singh said the introduction of Infiniti to Nigeria market is a proof of the company’s commitment to set standards in the local automobile industry.

    Singh said Nissan is a painstakingly engineered brand with vast range of models, cutting across various applications, saying this versatility has placed Nissan well ahead of competition which is currently ranked sixth largest automaker in the world.

    Stallion NMN, he said, hopes to replicate the success in Nigeria by making Nissan one of the  most preferred brands.

    “Our obligation is to make ownership of Nissan product range an exciting experience as we recognise the significance of excellence both in the quality of Nissan vehicles and in after sales service.”

    He said Stallion NMN has trained and is continuing to retrain all her service technicians in multiple auto repair disciplines and will continue to acquaint them extensively in Nissan’s constantly advancing and cutting edge technology.

    Stallion NMN Head of Marketing and Sales Amit Sharma described Infiniti as an award winning brand and a meticulously engineered brand with excellent fuel efficiency and output to deliver exceptional feelings and superb driving response.

    Mr Sharma depicted the Infiniti Q50 as a 3.7litre sedan with 326Hp@7,000rpm producing 361Nm@5,200rpm while QX70 is available in V6 3.7litre and V6 5.0litre engines, with 329Hp@7,000 rpm and 390Hp@6000 rpm respectively. The QX80 is equipped with V8 5.6litre powertrain with 400Hp@5800rpm.

    The engines have aluminium alloy blocks and heads with film coated pistons, he noted.

  • Shoprite Nigeria procures 76% of products sold locally

    Shoprite Nigeria procures 76% of products sold locally

    It’s been a little more than 10 years since Shoprite was launched in Nigeria with the opening of its first store in Lagos in December 2005. Today 99.5percent of the supermarket chain’s 2230 employees are Nigerians and 76 percent of all products sold are procured locally.

    Shoprite’s commitment to support local enterprise means the supermarket chain has developed relationships with approximately 300 leading Nigerian suppliers and small businesses.

    “It is one thing to farm vegetables, but having the right channels in place to reach consumers is equally important,” commented Dr Folashade Disu, CEO of Batfol Farms in Lagos. “This is where Shoprite plays a major role. As the supermarket chain has been increasing its footprint in Nigeria, so too Batfol Farms have been growing its capacity in order to continue meeting the demand for our produce.”

    Mr Samuel Adedeji, Supervisor for feed millsat Fresh Country Chicken in Kwara, echoes these sentiments. “Thanks to unprecedented growth levels since becoming a Shoprite supplier, Fresh Country Chicken started an outgrower programme. Local community farmers are supplied with seed, maize fertilisers and herbicides, Fresh Country Chicken then buys back the maize at market rates after input deductions.”

    Shoprite Nigeria introduced the country to a world class shopping experience through its core business promise of lower prices. Having recently opened its 16th Shoprite store in Nigeria, the supermarket chain remains firmly committed to supporting local farmers through mutually beneficial business relationships.

  • Govt must establish courts to fight sub-standard products, says SON DG

    Govt must establish courts to fight sub-standard products, says SON DG

    The Director-General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Joseph Odumodu, has said the fight against sub-standard and fake products in the country will be better tackled with the creation of a special high court that will try importers engaged in such activities.

    He said though the country has lots of laws meant to deal with those who bring in fake and sub-standard products, a special court will be of great help in the fight against fake products in the country.

    Speaking with reporters in Lagos, during a review meeting with International Accredited Firms (IAFs), the SON boss said: “We have enough laws to jail those importers, what I am also lobbying for now is to have a special court, a federal high court that will handle these cases expeditiously, because when people see that it is not going to take five years, but two months to get cases done with, they will have to think twice.”

    While revealing that SON is working with the Chinese government on how to reduce importation of fake products into the country, Odumodu said they are working on product liability and repatriation. He said: “In the last four years, SON has entered into agreement with the Chinese Government, which never happened but there is a renewed commitment coming from the Chinese government, but we need to see this in action.”

    He stressed that such agreement will actually help SON to clean up the market of fake products.

    “If I walk into a shop to get a product and it is substandard, it is the person who sold that product that has the liability and until we are able to trace the product to the original owner, the seller of that product will be in our custody. What we are also saying is that we are putting some responsibility on the retailers and wholesalers. We have told them to ask for documentation before buying a product because they need to protect themselves,” he said.

    Odumodu added that SON’s system going forward must be evidence-driven.

    “If you sell a product to someone and it does not work, you will pay. People should demand their rights. If you buy a product and it does not work, you must return the product and get your full value and if you do not get it, you have a right to respond. If you have a product in the market, it must be registered to enable us capture it into our database so that when the product fails to conform to standards, we will know where to trace it to,” he explained.

  • SON, EU to end rejection of export products

    SON, EU to end rejection of export products

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has partnered the European Union (EU) to build capacities and competences required to stop rejection of exports from Nigeria at the global market.

    It said to meet up with the diversification agenda of the Presidency, which would be pursued with the support of 2016 budget, Nigerian products must gain acceptance at the international market.

    Its Director-General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, said to prevent the nation from suffering   disadvantages due to non-acceptability of its exports, 70 workers of SON, who will retrain others across the value chain, will be trained by the team of experts from EU for eight months.

    He spoke at the inaugural meeting of SON with the experts for the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)-EU-Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) programme on capacity building and training on standardisation.

    The theme of the forum was: “Fostering Standardisation Values and Capacity Growth for Made-in-Nigeria Products”.

    He said Nigeria, buying 80 per cent of what it consumes and selling less than 20 per cent of what it has capacity to produce, is a net buyer at the international community.

    He said:  “The partnership with EU to build capacities for Made-in-Nigeria goods is a micro quality intervention programme focused on specific areas such as agricultural produce, chemical testing, electronics and electrical, as well as identifying gaps in the processes of accreditation of laboratories.”

  • Emzor presents products to NFF

    Emzor presents products to NFF

    In line with their sponsor-ship agreement with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), pharmaceutical giant, Emzor has presented their products to the NFF in fulfillment of the value-in-kind section of the contract.

    Making the presentation in Abuja on Friday, Emzor’s Regional Manager, Mr. Benjamin Udebuani underscored that the pharmaceutical company has a fully entrenched tradition of fulfilling agreements, and that the organisation remains enchanted by the partnership with Nigeria football.

    Udebuani, alongside Mr. Muyiwa Kayode and Prince Adeyemi Aseperi, was received by NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi.

    Sanusi, in company with NFF Deputy General Secretary, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, Head of Marketing Alizor Chuks and Chief Legal Officer Okey Obi, commended Emzor for fulfilling that part of the agreement, and also for the company’s cherished support for the NFF and the National Team.

    Emzor Pharmaceuticals is an official sponsor of the Super Eagles.

  • ‘Importation of poultry products must stop’

    Poultry farmers have decried the importation of frozen poultry products into Nigeria and are advocating  a stop to the trend.

    The Chairman, Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Plateau chapter, Mr John Dasar, expressed concern at a sensitisation workshop organised for stakeholders. Dasar explained that the health hazard of consuming such imported poultry products was high.

    The workshop themed: ‘’Economic and Health Implications of Smuggled Poultry Products’’, was jointly organised by PAN, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

    The chairman said the rationale behind the workshop was to sensitise the public to consume only wholesome poultry products reared locally in Nigeria.Dasar said the major bane of the poultry industry  was the unwholesome smuggling of frozen poultry products despite the ban by the Federal Government.

    According to him, the total fight against this illegal activity would not only make the industry experience rapid growth, but would create more jobs for the teeming youths.

    ‘’The importation of these poultry products into Nigeria is really killing our business and it is also a major drawback for the industry.If we are able to totally stop the consumption of imported poultry products, the local industry, within a short time, will thrive. It will create a lot of jobs for the unemployed.

    ‘’So, we will not sit down and allow things go wrong; we stand firmly to ensure that this ugly activity is nipped in the bud,’’ he said.

    In a keynote address, NAFDAC’s Director General, Dr Paul Orhi, represented by Mrs Josephine Dayilim, said the consumption of imported poultry products has high health implications. She said the buying of smuggled products does not only encourage economic sabotage, but  damages the human system, hence warned the public to desist from consuming it.

    Commending the chapter for organising the sensitisation programme, PAN national president, Mr OnaloAbbah said the chapter was the first in the North-Central zone to replicate the campaign against the importation of smuggled products.

    The president said the poultry industry in Nigeria was doing well, as it was the largest producer of eggs, but however, decried the activity of smugglers.

    ‘’We must collectively fight this menace, package our local products with some sense of decency, otherwise we will continue to go down the drain,’’ he urged.

    Abbah further charged poultry farmers to take bio-security measures very seriously so as to save the industry from total collapse.

    In  a goodwill message, Co-Chairman, Plateau  House Committee  on Agriculture, Peter Ibrahim,   assured the farmers that the Assembly would enact laws that would enable poultry business remain viable in the state.

  • 23 ships expected in Lagos with petroleum products, foods

    Twenty three ships laden with food items, petroleum products and other goods are being expected in Lagos ports from Sept. 18 to Sept. 30.

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) stated this in its daily publication – `Shipping Position’- made available to newsmen on Friday in Lagos.

    NPA said seven of the expected ships would arrive with containers, while two others would sail in with general cargo.

    The document explained that nine other ships would arrive with frozen fish, buck wheat, bulk sugar and palm oil.

    It said the remaining five ships were expected with petrol and base oil.

    The document noted that 10 ships had arrived the ports waiting to berth with general cargo, rice, frozen fish, bulk salt, petrol, bulk gas and aviation fuel.

  • SON confiscates substandard products worth N4b, says Odumodu

    SON confiscates substandard products worth N4b, says Odumodu

    The Director-General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr Joseph Odumodu, has said the agency has seized substandard products worth four billion naira since the beginning of the year.

    Odumodu said the prevalence of sub-standard goods had reduced from 85 to 40 per cent with the launch of the National Coalition on the Zero Tolerance Campaign.

    He said when he assumed office, he was confronted with an organisation lacking in capacity and a market that was saturated with fake and sub-standard goods.

    He commissioned a baseline study, which showed that the prevalence of sub-standard goods was as high as 85 per cent while the level of awareness about their hazards was almost zero per cent.

    Through a six-point agenda, including consumer protection and engagement, improving the competitiveness of local products, aggressive conformity assessment, global relevance and capacity building, improvements have been made.

    Following the amendment of the SON Act, the agency now has powers to arrest, prosecute and jail purveyors of fake and sub-standard products.

    SON, in a statement by its Director/Head of laboratory Services, Mr. Louis Njoku, said the six-point agenda was  designed to help industries build their quality assurance infrastructure while complying with SON’s zero tolerance against fake and sub-standard goods.

    “These and other measures stabilised the market and reduced the prevalence of sub-standard goods from an initial level of 85 to less than 40 per cent in less than three years, and raised the level of consumer awareness from almost 0 to as high as 65 per cent.

    “Now, the agency’s ‘operation flush’ promises to reduce the level of sub-standard products to one per cent by the end of 2015,” the statement said.

    Under Odumodu, SON has granted country-wide ISO certifications, the ISO 9000, to several firms and public institutions and has enumerated many more standards in the market, especially for local produce.

    SON is spearheading the formulation of a National Quality Policy and is also fast-tracking the establishment of National Quality Infrastructure.

    “In line with this objective, SON midwifed the inauguration of a committee on establishing a National Accreditation Body. This was done in May 2013 in Lagos. The agency secured international accreditation of its food technology test laboratories in Nigeria. The set objective of all these efforts is for Nigerian-made products to meet global competitiveness,” the agency said.

    It added that an aggressive enforcement regime has  curtailed the negative activities of importers and manufacturers of fake and sub-standard goods.

    The statement added: “SON offers free certification for SMEs in the country in order to prepare them for export and put an end to Nigerian goods being rejected in the international market.

    “Now, Nigeria’s local products would henceforth enjoy high patronage at the global market, following the recent accreditation by International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC)’s unprecedented testing and certification of SON food laboratories.”

    It said a new ultra-modern, world class laboratory facility is nearing completion in Ogba; Lagos, which was inaugurated on October 3.

    It also embarked on standardisation of cement as a means to stop building collapse. “The inclusion of labeling, date of manufacture, expiration and other measures will enable SON’s officials towards effective monitoring, enforcement and flushing out of all quacks in the sector.

    [ad id=”403656″]“However, one of the multi-national cement companies operating in Nigeria obtained a Court order restraining SON from enforcing the new cement grade standards.

    “Standardisation exercises in the cable sector have promoted at least N20 billion worth of investment in cable manufacturing in the country.”

    SON said it also pioneered a National Quality Policy aimed at establishing the appropriate framework for the development and publication of national standards and to reposition the country among the top 20 industrialised nations of the world.

    SON has also integrated its e-Certificates with Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS) for processing Form ‘M’ and Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR). The essence, it said, is to facilitate trade by eliminating direct contact or visits to SON office for certification processing.

    It constructed the National Metrology Institute (NMI) in Enugu. “The NMI is one of the missing quality control links required to house the national primary standards for Nigeria and regulate the operations of enterprises and corporations so that measurement systems used for commerce in Nigeria are not subject to abuses and exploitation.

    “After several laboratory analyses, the agency’s enforcement unit has made a public evacuation and destruction of several products ranging from tyres, electrical equipment, diapers, phones, shaving sticks, cables and bulbs, among others.

    “Following SON’s Operation flush drive to ensure substandard, fake, adulterated and counterfeit products are completely flushed out of the nation’s economy and markets across the country, the impact of SON’s activities under the leadership and watch of Dr. Odumodu is positively felt in the nation,” the statement added.

  • NUPENG, SON to flush out substandard products

    NUPENG, SON to flush out substandard products

    Fake lubricant and base oil producers have been put put on notice –  the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON)  plans to join forces with National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Engine Lubricant Dealers Branch, to stop their trade.

    The two bodies have set up a working committee made up of 10 members (five each) to set out modalities  for a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would set  the framework for  a planned task force that will drive the change within the next 90 days.

    Speaking at the event, which held at SON’s Lekki Office, Lagos the Director-General, Dr Joseph Odumodu said the move is a welcomed as it would enable a cleaner oil and gas sector, adding that there was need to sanitise the sector in the overall interest of Nigeria.

    Odumodu said  it was on the government interest in seeing that the oil and gas lubricant sub-sector is run in accordance with the laws of the land, hinting that collaboration with NUPENG is what SON needs to bring sanity and due process in that industry.

    “I want to assure you that SON will collaborate with you in this battle. Some people bring in base oil and try to  adulterate it. Nigeria cannot be a safe haven for such unscrupulous importers or blenders. We will flush them out with joint collaboration and ensure that genuine business flourish in the sector.

    He assured that  base oil,  which does not meet the quality that  suit our modern day automobiles/machinery in terms of the SAE ranges and API classifications, would be removed from the market.

    According to him,  it is important to  bring in other stakeholders and groups in the sector “so that we can eradicate substandard goods from oil and gas sector”.

    ”We shall sign an MOU by first setting up a working committee and a task force team  that will bring sanity to the sector with in 90 days,’’ he said.

    Reacting, Comrade Braimoh spoke against the damages caused by adulterated products to engines and machines and the attendant effect on the economy, expressing worries over complaints about  poor quality of imported lubricant brands to the detriment of locally produced ones.

    He said this mandated the need that SON and NUPENG should synergise to reduce the incidents of adulterated and substandard products to the barest minimum for the good of the public.

    Other top executives of SON at the meeting, include: Mr Bede Obayi, Director Enforcement, Engineer; Timothy Abner, Head Petroleum; Mr Ofalayo, Group Head Chemical Technology, Engineer Gabriel Abba, among others.