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Tag: SON

  • SON sets up team to sanitise LPG sector

    SON sets up team to sanitise LPG sector

    •Acquires modern testing equipment

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has inaugurated an Ad-hoc Committee of its top officials and other experts in the oil & gas sector to sanitise operations in the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) industry.

    Inaugurating the team in Lagos, its Director-General, Osita Aboloma, said the objective was to address the challenges and dangers faced by sub-standard petroleum products.

    “We are setting up this committee because we want them to serve as the society’s watchdogs and identify latest equipment and products that are used in the discharge and sale of LPG items.

    “The committee will also certify both old and new equipment such as storage tanks, vessels, cylinders and other things to make them safer to bring about improved service delivery in that sector,” the SON boss said.

    The committee’s terms of reference are to sanitise the LPG sector, ensure professional and ethical practices by operators in the filling plants and retailers’ shops; report any incident of unethical practice and substandard products to SON especially roadside and illegal fabricators of substandard LPG tanks and cylinders.

    The committee is also expected to draw a strategy for the LPG cylinder re-qualification scheme, the withdrawal of old and substandard LPG cylinders from circulation, submit to the Director General within three months for consideration and approval for implementation as well as come up with recommendations from time to time to move the LPG sector forward as it relates to SON mandate.

    The Director, National Metrology Institute, Obiora Manafa, said the committee’s terms of reference were very clear, adding that the committee would work relentlessly to sanitise the sector.

    “We would ensure that new and obsolete tanks, vessels, cylinders are certified before use. I want to implore all of us to give our time, expertise and commitment to ensure the success of this national assignment. We are going to achieve this mandate because the terms of reference are very clear,” he said.

    The Deputy President, Nigeria LPG Association (NLPGA), Nuhu Yakubu, said the committee would continue to provide its support and harness the existing partnership with SON.

    The National Treasurer, Nigerian Association of LPG Marketers, Ogunrinde Adebayo, maintained that the committee would be committed to the cause of protecting lives and property of Nigerians as well as investments.

    The agency has also taken delivery of modern testing equipment to tackle the incidence of gas explosions in the nation’s oil & gas industry.

    SON said it was concerned by the incessant explosion, destruction of lives and property caused by substandard Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) products hence, its decisive step to acquire three state-of-the-art pressure testing equipment to reduce the menace to the barest minimum.

    SON stated that the three latest equipment located in Abuja, Enugu and Lagos, would help to test the strength of materials and capacities of LPG vessels, cylinders and allied products across the country.

    Aboloma stated that SON has invested heavily in human and capital resources to ensure the proper and effective use of the equipment.

    “We have invested heavily in terms of human and capital resources in training and acquiring state-of-the-art LPG testing equipment. We have sent our engineers outside the country to learn what it takes to address the challenges of substandard LPG in a modern economy. I think in a matter of time these explosions will be a thing of the past,” he said.

  • Woman loses husband, son same day

    Woman loses husband, son same day

    A 60-year old woman, Helen Odiazor, has cried for justice, following the alleged killing of her son, Melody, the same night her husband died.

    Police Commissioner Babatunde Kokumo has invited the Divisional Police Officer of Saint Saviour Police Station and members of the vigilance group, who allegedly killed Melody.

    The deceased, a tipper driver apprentice, was said to have been killed by members of the vigilance group at Tipper garage, on Saint Saviour Road, about 9pm when he was returning home after being informed about his father’s death.

    He was said to have been shot dead with two other boys.

    His mother, Helen, who was in tears, said it was painful for her to lose her husband and son the same day.

    She said her husband died in a hospital on November 8, and she was informed about her son’s death the same day.

    The woman said her son was heading home on hearing about his father’s death when he was allegedly killed by members of the vigilance group.

    She insisted that her son was not a robber.

    The deceased’s sister, Rachel, said policemen told the family that her brother was not dead, but being treated for gunshot injuries.

    She said the police refused to disclose the hospital or take the family to the hospital where he was being treated.

    Kokumo said he had invited the parties to a meeting for briefing.

    He said the impression given the police was that members of the vigilance group had an encounter with robbers, adding that another information had emerged about the killing.

  • SON impounds bags of sugar

    SON impounds bags of sugar

    The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has impounded a truck loaded with 560 bags of contraband sugar in Kebbi State.

    The Coordinator, Alhaji Jibril Muhammad, in an interview yesterday with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Birinin Kebbi, said: “We impounded a truck loaded with 560 bags of contraband sugar smuggled from Brazil through Kebbi State borders with Benin and Niger Republic.

    “The seized products, 50kg each, had branded names of White Crystal Sugar Nardini Agro Industrial and LTDA Industrial Brazillaira, with N15,000 Birnin-Kebbi market price each per bag, all worth N9.15 million.”

    He said half bags of the products were also seized by the SON during shops to shops searching at Birnin-Kebbi central market.

    It was learnt that the illegal importation of the products violated SON Act 2015, Part VII, number 26(1-2).

    Muhammad said the products lacked vitamin A, which flouted the prescription of the Federal Government.

    “We have been directed by the Director-General of SON to impound any product imported without the permission of the agency.

    “These items were smuggled into the country. We mounted our intelligence, market surveillance, among other techniques, to track down the truck.

    “The truck owner has been arrested; he is with the police. Investigation is on,” he said.

    Muhammad said owners of shops where bags of imported sugar were found have signed documents with the agency, adding: “Whenever we need them, they will make themselves available.”

    He said the mechanism would enable consumers to identify standard products in the market through the SON labels, noting that people should be conscious of commodities without SON approval, expiry date and labels.

    “If you want to import, please come to SON for guideline and procedure.”

     

  • SON commits to keeping standard

    SON commits to keeping standard

    Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), said it is committed  to keeping standards and ensuring that product certification remains the key to improving Nigeria’s product competitiveness in the local and international market and for gaining acceptance.

    SON’s Director-General, Osita Aboloma,  said this during SON’s special day at the 2017 Lagos International Trade Fair.

    Aboloma, who was represented by the Director, Business Support Services (BSS), Mrs. Margret Eshiet, said SON has put in place, planned implementation of products authentication scheme before the end of the year, saying the scheme will tackle the challenge of products cloning and product adulteration.

    He said:”The outcome of product authentication scheme will drive away product faking and support zero-tolerance to sub-standard products and ultimately promote the image of quality certified products from Nigeria.”

     

     

     

     

     

  • SON destroys expired goods in Ekiti

    SON destroys expired goods in Ekiti

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in Ekiti State raided about 100 shops at the weekend and destroyed fake and expired products, estimated at over N4.5 million.

    Operatives of the agency burnt fake and substandard tyres, expired breakfast cereals, packed snacks, detergent, soap, wine and fruit juices.

    Others include television sets and cables as well as substandard LPG cylinders.

    SON State Coordinator Oyebola Ayeni said the raid was conducted in conjunction with security agencies following a tip-off and sustained surveillance by agency workers.

    Ayeni said the destroyed items were seized from distributors and sellers after the products failed quality assurance tests.

    The SON coordinator said most of the seized items had fake company names, fake brand names, fake countries of origin and imaginary expiry dates embossed on them.

  • Police arrest Jesu Oyingbo’s son for ‘defilement, kidnapping’

    Police arrest Jesu Oyingbo’s son for ‘defilement, kidnapping’

    One of the sons of the late self-proclaimed messiah, Jesu Oyingbo, Adebola Odumosu, has been arrested by the police for allegedly defiling a teenager.

    Odumosu is being held at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, where he allegedly admitted to having sex his lover’s niece.

    Trouble started for Odumosu last week after he allegedly leaked the information of the crime he committed some years ago to a United Kingdom-based blogger.

    The information was to spite his estranged lover, Folashade Olatunji, a business rival to the woman he leaked the information to.

    A police source said Odumosu allegedly committed the offence at Alakuko, when the victim was 14-year-old.

    Aside defiling her, it was gathered that he procured at least two abortions for the teenager before his lover’s family knew he was having unlawful intercourse with the victim.

    It was gathered that both families resolved to sweep the crime under carpet to save the teenager from stigmatisation, an agreement Odumosu allegedly broke after his relationship with Folashade failed.

    He was said to have resorted to blackmailing Folashade and extorting her. It was gathered that the suspect allegedly held the victim’s 87-year-old grandmother hostage at a flat rented by Folashade in Lagos and threatened to keep her locked up unless certain amount of money was paid.

    The source said: “The suspect is in our custody. He admitted to have had sexual relations with the girl who was a teenager at the time. The matter was reported at Alakuko Police Station but both families resolved to settle it quietly for the sake of the girl.

    “At that time, he was in a relationship with Folashade. They met on Facebook and started dating. He was in India and Folashade in United Kingdom (UK). I think Folashade moved to India and they were planning to get married.

    “Along the line, things did not work out and Folashade returned to the UK. They were planning to have introduction when disagreements started and they went their separate ways.

    “What angered Folashade’s family was that the suspect went ahead to leak information about the rape to a UK-based online medium. The owner of the medium is a rival to Folashade and she ran the story. The whole thing they were covering up became public and that was how Folashade wrote a petition to the Police Command and the suspect tracked.

    “He admitted that he had sex on several occasions with the teenager and that it was not rape because they both agreed to it. He forgot that sex with teenager was a crime under the law. He also admitted that the teenager had abortions for him. He denied leaking the information to the online medium but we have evidence that he was the one who did it.”

    Police spokesman, Olarinde Famous-Cole, an Assistant Superintendent (ASP) said the suspect would be charged to court.

  • Family cries for justice over death of son, breadwinner in police custody

    The family of Mr. Chikwendu Ibekwe, who reportedly died while in Police custody at the State Criminal Investigation Department in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, has called for justice over the death of their loved one.

    The family members, who rejected the sum of N310, 000 offered to them as compensation by the Police, demanded the police to foot the bill of their son’s burial.

    Ibekwe, a 42- year old vulcanizer, who hails from Umuobiakwa Nsirimo in Umuahia South Local Government Area was said to have been arrested on April 6, 2017 for allegedly buying a stolen tyre.

    It was gathered that the deceased was initially detained at the Ubakala Police Station before he was eventually transferred to the D7, where he reportedly pass on after falling sick and because of the inability of police to allow him access to health care.

    The Police Public Relation Officer in the State, Mr. Geoffrey Ogbonna had in an interview said the deceased was arrested because a vehicle of a kidnapped victim was traced to his workshop.

    He added that while in detention the deceased became aggressive and started hitting himself on the cell wall before he became sick and he was taken to the Police clinic where he died.

    Mr. Alozie Ibekwe, the uncle to the deceased said the family felt embarrassed at the amount the Police offered them as compensation; even though they sought for amicable resolution with the Police.

    He said, “The last meeting we had with the Police  was in the August, when they (Police) said we should go and cost what it took us to bury our brother, but we told them that we cannot cost it,  because the deceased has a family, his children, wife and aged parents that were relying on him before he died.

    “We told them to do the costing themselves since they want us to settle amicably. In the month of September they invited us and they said they have N310 to give, but we rejected the offer. We told them that the amount cannot handle the burial, let alone giving something to the deceased’s family.

    He however said, “No amount of money given to us will bring our brother back to life. All we are after is to make sure they release the corpse for us to bury; they should arrange for the casket, ambulance and pay the mortuary bills, then  give his widow something to continue with life; we have  nothing to do than to bury him”, he said.

     

  • SON seals warehouse for unwholesome products in Lagos

    SON seals warehouse for unwholesome products in Lagos

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has sealed a warehouse and shops stocked with unfortified pasta, flour and sugar in different areas in Lagos.

    It also raided major markets in the state as part of its ongoing efforts to stem the tide of substandard products in the country.

    SON’s Director-General, Osita Aboloma, said the warehouse and shops contained products that were unwholesome and therefore, risky for human consumption.

    He said the products were brought into the country with no import documentation and registration numbers, adding that they could lead to dangerous health hazards for unsuspecting consumers, who buy them.

    Aboloma said the raid followed intelligence reports from sister security agencies and the cooperation of patriotic Nigerians, adding that the enforcement would continue as a way of ensuring that only goods that meet the minimum requirements of the Nigeria Industrial Standards (NIS) or other approved standards are sold in the country.

    “The seized products do not meet our standard specifications, a critical part of which is the regulation on fortification with Vitamin A. There were no documentations to show how they got into the country and evidence of being registered under our electronic product registration scheme. They are not supposed to be on our shelves,” Aboloma said.

    He said the sale of unfortified pasta, flour and sugar in the country is particularly worrisome, considering that there is a government policy on their fortification with Vitamin A as a way of preserving the sight of Nigerians. “Flour, pasta, vegetable oil and sugar are foods that Nigerians consume regularly and if they are not fortified with the necessary vitamins as provided in the relevant standards, the Nigerian consumers would be prone to such illnesses as blindness and other sight problems,”he said.

    Aboloma, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Market Surveillance, Suleiman Issa, added that the campaign to eradicate substandard imported sugar, flour and flour products in the country would continue, assuring Nigerians that wherever these products are found, they would be removed.

    “These products have not been registered with SON for traceability and quality verification. I will advise Nigerians to look out for the registration numbers of SON and National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on imported food products before purchase.

    “Any uncertified, unregistered and smuggled product is very risky and most likely unwholesome for consumption. Any pack of these imported non-conforming flour-based products found in our markets would be removed and the owners held accountable until they take us to the source,” he said.

    Mr. Aboloma said SON’s effort to stamp out substandard products in the country required the collective efforts of Nigerians, urging market women not to patronise uncertified and unregistered brands. He advised importers and vendors to desist from selling flour-based products that can endanger people’s health.

    “This is just the beginning. We will continue the exercise, and that is why we are urging Nigerians to be wary of unfit imported products. We are aware that some of these products are smuggled in the dead of the night, using unofficial routes. We will continue to checkmate those behind their importation,”he said.

    According to him, SON would intensify its efforts at sensitising the Nigerian populace on the implication of patronage and consumption of uncertified and unregistered imported products, which have negative implications for local industries in addition to constituting health and economic risks.

    He said most of such products dumped in Nigeria cannot be sold in their countries of origin, but are shipped to Africa and smuggled in through unauthorised routes.

    The state co-ordinator, Lagos Office III, SON, Mrs. Ngozi Ekwueme, warned that the consumption of the products that lack Vitamin A fortification puts the average Nigerian, who patronises them the most, at a risk of blindness.

    Globus Supermarket Manager,  whose warehouse was sealed, said he did not know the implications of consuming the products.

    He urged the Federal Government to do more enlightenment programmes to educate vendors and consumers.

  • SON, ISO 700 set to tackle infrastructural decay

    The Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Anthony Aboloma yesterday said in partnership with the International Standard Organisation (ISO 700), which is high in all areas of infrastructure will help in upgrading Nigerian’s urbanisation standards.

    Aboloma spoke  during the world standard day in Abuja, with: Standard Makes Cities Smarter assuring that they are working in partnership with ISO in developing a standard called ISO 700, bringing to fore the establishment of smart cities in Nigeria.

    He said: “That is what we want to deploy in Nigeria, when we do that, our cities will be smarter and things will work, this is a programme we run with all other countries of the world, this will be a welcome development for Nigeria to improve the standard of the city through quality infrastructure.

    “Usually the world standard day is celebrated every October 14, this year it is for us to look for ways to deploy standards to make our cities smart. From statistics we are aware that an average of 20,000 people move into the cities every year, for us to be able to cope with the problems of migration and urbanisation, we have to make our cities smarter, more efficient to accommodate the people coming in to the cities.”

    The Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar said ISO, International Electro technical Commission (IEC), and the International Telecommunications Union, (ITU) are the major standards bodies.

     

     

    This annual event goes with various activities to bring home the message of standardisation across different sectors of economies around the world. “SON is our key representative in international standard forum. The platform today is to discuss how standards can make our cities smarter,” she said.

    The minister said the critical issue of making our cities and building smarter is from conceptualisation through design and construction, that provides for safety, access , good ventilation aesthetics are some of the issues that the theme of this years, s world standards day is calling our attention to.

     

  • SON warns importers against incessant false declaration

    SON warns importers against incessant false declaration

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has warned importers against making false declaration.

    Its Director-General Osita Aboloma, gave this warning during a stakeholders’ forum on the ease of doing business.

    Aboloma, represented by the Director, Inspectorate and Compliance, Mr. Bede Obayi, said it was important for importers to make use of the trade facilitation initiatives and opportunities that the Federal Government had provided.

    While lamenting that most importers falsely declare what they import, he said importers must desist from making false declaration.

    Aboloma said: “What you say you are bringing in as declared with our independent accredited firms overseas must be what you are bringing in at the point of entry so that we will give these products express entry into the country.

    “This is why we are organising this forum to make stakeholders in the import business aware of the role they have to play to achieve the Federal Government’s ease of doing business mandate.

    “We want to make sure that they continue to do things right. Importers have a responsibility in the ease of doing business and we want them to talk to us and tell us where the shoe pinches.”

    The SON DG said the agency had put the standards operating procedures for exporters, which will make business easy for them while they give value to consumers in terms of service delivery.

    “We cannot allow non-compliant trade in Nigeria. Anybody that wants to import must do that according to our conformity assessment programmes,” Aboloma said.

    He pointed out that the agency had ensured that all its operations were properly documented and uploaded on its website for easy access.

    He noted, however, that even though the agency had ensured that made-in Nigeria cables came out as the best in the world, people were cloning already known brands and branding them as made-in-Nigeria.

    “This is not good for local production. Imported goods cannot be branded as made-in-Nigeria goods. We are proud of our local products and we want to export them to the world,” he said.

    The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Kayode Farinto, noted that the ease of doing business cannot be feasible with the poor infrastructure at the ports.

    He said: “I expected the Federal Government to declare state of emergency on our roads.  A lot of things are happening while the government is looking the other way. The Federal Government wants to achieve ease of doing business, but they are putting the cart before the horse. There are things that need to be done before we can achieve ease of doing business.”