The Nation Newspaper

Tag: SON

  • NPA, SON recommit to collaborative efforts

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) have reaffirmed their collaboration to prevent an influx of substandard products into the country.

    SON’s Director General, Osita Aboloma, and Managing Director, NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman stated this yesterday during a meeting.

    Usman, said the federal government was right to encourage synergy among its agencies via the Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business.

    The order, according to her, does not provide excuses for anyone to flood Nigeria with substandard and unwholesome products.

    She stated that the NPA is resolved to provide necessary support for all relevant agencies to effectively discharge their mandates at the Ports.

    Usman urged SON, other agencies and stakeholders to take optimal advantage of the reforms being carried out at the Ports for greater efficiency and effectiveness.

    Aboloma expressed SON’s desire to promote synergy in tackling the menace of substandard products influx into Nigeria.

    He said the nation runs great risk from the influx of substandard and life-endangering products like steel reinforcement bars, electric cables, lighting bulbs, food and drugs among others.

    Aboloma stated less energy and resources would be required to apprehend substandard products at the points of entry than what is being channeled towards surveillance and seizures in warehouses and sales outlets nationwide.

  • SON reduces product registration time to 60 days

    SON reduces product registration time to 60 days

    • Group denies cloned electrical parts

    The Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr. Osita Aboloma, has said 60 days will, henceforth, be the deadline for product registration, adding that it aligns with the government policy on ease of doing business.

    Speaking during a sensitisation forum between SON and Alaba Electrical Dealers Association of Nigeria (EDAN) in Lagos, at the weekend, he said the standards agency had come out with simplified processes to encourage more businessmen to register their products.

    He discouraged them from copying other people’s brands, adding that it was an economic crime to counterfeit genuine products. While urging the traders to desist from cloning successful products and importing counterfeited products into the country, Aboloma promised that SON will automate the process of product registration and reduce human interference.

    According to him when the agency destroyed substandard goods, it indirectly affects the economy because it is billions of naira that was destroyed. He warned that any importer that is apprehended will face the full wrath of the law as the Attorney-General’s office is  partnering with SON to ensure that such people are prosecuted  to serve as example to would-be offenders.

    Meanwhile, EDAN has stepped up its game by coming under the Standard Organisation Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) for locally manufactured cables and wires and SON Mandatory Assessment Programmes (SONCAP) for imported cables.

    A patron of the market, Mr. Okolo Benjamin, said the allegation of the presence of fake and substandard electrical goods in the market was exaggerated.

    He appealed to SON to continuously engage the traders on the negative effects of fake and sub-standard goods rather than vilification.

    Earlier, EDAN Chairman, Mr. Fabian Ezereadi Ezeorjika, commended the collaborative effort between the association and SON and said before now, many of his members were driven by profit rather than the safety of lives, property and nationalism and imported life threatening products into the country.

    He lamented that many EDAN members who refused to do the right things lost millions of naira to either confiscation or outright destruction by SON.

    He urged his members to key into the standardisation policy of the Federal Government.

    He said to check the infiltration of cloned electrical materials into the market, the association introduced SON market desk while encouraging their members to ensure that all products are properly registered.

    “We constituted an ad hoc committee named standard and anti-adulteration committees, vested with the statutory responsibilities of standardising and regulating quality of imported products,’’ he added.

  • SON bursts cable cloning syndicate

    SON bursts cable cloning syndicate

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has nabbed a syndicate specialised in cloning of certified made-in-Nigeria cables in Lagos.

    A statement from the office of SON Director-General Mr. Osita Aboloma said the syndicate operated from 5, Collins Street, opposite Akapo Street, Ojo Alaba, Lagos.

    The statement said the operation was carried out by a combined team of the Special Protection Unit of the Nigeria Police attached to SON, operatives of the Force Criminal Investigation Department in Lagos and officials of SON Inspectorate and Compliance Directorate.

    The syndicate specialised in importing unregistered and substandard cable brands like Verginity, New Age and Sunrise, which are then rerolled, rebranded and repackaged as certified made in Nigeria cables for sale.

    The statement added that about 2,647 rolls of cables were awaiting  cloning, while 22 bags, five cartons and 270 coils of already-cloned  ones and two re-rolling and rebranding equipment were seized from the premises.

    Two suspects were arrested at the scene and are helping the Police with investigations.

    The implications of the syndicates’ activities, according to the statement, include inadvertent purchase and use of substandard cables by unsuspecting consumers; de-marketing of certified made in Nigeria cables as a result; loss in sales and revenue by genuine local manufacturers of cables; reduction in capacity utilisation and attendant job losses.

    Abaloma urged Nigerians to continue to provide useful information to assist regulatory agencies serve them better in the overall interest of the nation and its people.

    “The suspects will be prosecuted in line with the provisions of the SON Act 14 of 2015 on conclusion of investigation,”the statement added.

     

  • SON destroys substandard cables, others

    SON destroys substandard cables, others

    About seven containers loaded with substandard cables, cosmetics and other goods have been destroyed by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

    It said with this move, it has resolved to intensify its war against substandard products in the country.

    Its Director-General, Osita Aboloma, explained that the containers worth billions of naira were handed over to SON by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS). He described the collaboration as one of the ways the standards body is combating the fake and substandard goods to the barest ýminimum.

    Aboloma, during the destruction exercise in Lagos added that the destruction was to ensure that the goods do not find their way into the markets, pointing out that the products were live endangering with no economic value.

    “We are destroying these goods to safeguard the lives of Nigerians. We got over seven containers of substandard containers based on the strong collaboration with the NCS.

  • SON to certify products within 20 days

    SON to certify products within 20 days

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has said it will support the Federal Government’s Executive Order on ease of doing business through the reduction of timelines for certifying products.

    SON Director-General Mr. Osita Aboloma said as a deliberate strategy to enhance ease of doing business in Nigeria, the agency has put in place measures to ensure that test results from its laboratories are released to clients within 20 days of obtaining samples.

    Aboloma, who made this known at a sensitisation workshop on the SON Act 2015 and the ease of doing business, said the agency has also reduced the number of days required to obtain Mandatory Conformity Assessment Program Certificates to the barest minimum.

    He said the availability of laboratories and other conformity assessment infrastructure ensures that products produced in the country meet specified standards, thereby eliminating additional costs that would be incurred if they tested outside the country.

    “As a deliberate strategy to enhance the ease of doing business to all stakeholders, SON has put in place measures that would ensure that tests results from its laboratories are released to our clients within 20 days of obtaining samples depending on the product.

    “In addition, the number of days required to obtain both SONCAP and MANCAP certificates would be reduced to the barest minimum when the process for obtaining both certificates is fully automated,” Aboloma said.

  • SON: importers sabotaging govt’s economic programmes

    SON: importers sabotaging govt’s economic programmes

    The Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Mr. Osita Aboloma has accused unscrupulous importers of sabotaging Federal Government’s economic recovery programmes through false imports declaration at the country’s entry ports.

    Speaking in Lagos during the inspection of over seven container loads of products intercepted by the agency’s Enforcement Team,  Aboloma lamented that the importers of the products tooking undue advantage of government’s good intentions in promoting ease of doing business in the country.

    Aboloma said some of the importers were issued import permits for raw materials and machinery in furtherance of the nation’s economic diversification programme but ended up importing finished goods.

    According to him, the intercepted containers most of which came through the Tin Can Port, were all carrying products different from those declared at the points of clearance.

    Enumerating the infractions, Aboloma said plywood were declared as electric goods; used clothes as plumbing and building materials, while refrigerators were declared as cutting machines and agricultural appliances.

    Others according to him include, generators declared as industrial raw materials; kerosene cooking stoves and aluminium coated roofing sheets as plumbing materials.

    He frowned at the deliberate efforts of those he described as unscrupulous importers and their collaborators to undermine the Nation’s strive towards transparency and the ease of doing business especially at the entry points.

    He reiterated SON’s determination to promote compliant trade as part of efforts to implement the provisions of its 2015 Act to the letter, in order to prevent unwholesome, substandard and life endangering products from entry and circulation in Nigeria.

    Mr. Aboloma promised to intensify the prosecution of importers of substandard products in addition to seizure and destruction of the  products after due process.

    SON, according to him has in line with the Presidential Executive Orders amended its standards operating procedure to provide for a 24hour surveillance on suspected substandard consignments that may have escaped detection at the seaports or land border posts.

    “This is in order to protect unsuspecting consumers from the dangers associated with substandard and life endangering products and the economy from the attendant loss of revenue and threat to genuine local manufacturers” he said.

    The SON helmsman challenged importers to reciprocate Government’s good gesture of promoting ease of doing business with honest and transparent declaration in the clearance of goods at the seaports, airports and the land border posts.

    “No one is allowed by law to harm, maim nor kill Nigerians with substandard products under the guise of doing business” he said.

    Mr. Aboloma concluded that samples of the over N200million worth products have been sent to the relevant SON laboratories for tests and analysis to enable informed decisions on them.

  • Son gets bail for assaulting father

    A Surulere Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State yesterday granted N200,000 bail to a man, Ikenna Odawulu, who allegedly assaulted his 77-year-old father.

    The Magistrate, Mr. Aro Lambo, also granted the accused two sureties as part of his bail conditions.

    He ordered that one of the sureties must be a civil servant of not less than Grade Level 14 and the other a cleric or a community leader.

    Lambo said the sureties must provide evidence of tax payments to the Lagos State government, and their residential addresses verified by the prosecutor.

    Ikenna, 26, who lives at 5, Nurudeen Street, Orile Iganmu, a suburb of Lagos, pleaded not guilty to a two-count charge of assault and threat.

    The prosecutor, Anthonia Osayande, told the court that the accused allegedly committed the offences at 5, Nurudeen Street, Orile Iganmu, at 7 am., on September 5.

    She alleged that the accused unlawfully punched his father, Godwin Odawulu, in the face and all over his body during a misunderstanding.

    Osayande said the offence contravened sections 172 and 56 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    The court adjourned the case till October 12 for mention.

  • NACCIMA lauds SON’s support for export, import trade

    NACCIMA lauds SON’s support for export, import trade

    The National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has commended the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON)’s capacity development to support import and export.

    Its President, Iyalode Iyabo Alaba–Lawson, gave the commendation in Lagos while welcoming SON Director-General Mr. Osita Aboloma, to the inauguration of special committees of the association.

    She acknowledged the added value that SON internationally-accredited laboratories provide for import and export, particularly for agricultural products.

    Alaba–Lawson pledged NACCIMA’s support for the agency’s planned implementation of a products authentication scheme before the end of the year. She noted that such scheme was long overdue to tackle the challenge of products cloning and adulteration.

    According to her, the long-standing collaboration between SON and NACCIMA will be further enhanced during her tenure. She thanked Aboloma for his commitment to standardisation and quality assurance ideals.

    Aboloma sought the input of NACCIMA as a major stakeholder in the planned introduction of the products authentication scheme which will take off before the end of the year.

    He described NACCIMA members as critical stakeholders in standardisation, urging them to participate more in the development and review of Nigerian Industrial Standards (NIS) for products and services.

    Presenting a paper on “Importance of Quality Adherence to Imports/Exports in Nigeria” on the occasion, SON Head of Product Certification Mr. Tersoo Orngudwem, urged NACCIMA members to take optimum advantage of the SON internationally-accredited laboratories for import and export.

    This, according to him, will substantially reduce the incidence of export rejection and dumping of substandard products on Nigeria.

    Orngudwem said SON has over the years developed requisite capabilities in testing for export through its robust relationships with other national standards bodies across the globe as members of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).

  • Publisher petitions IG over plot to arrest wife, son

    Publisher petitions IG over plot to arrest wife, son

    WORRIED by failed attempt to arrest his wife and son, the Publisher of an online platform, PRNigeria, Mallam Yushau Shuaib, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Idris.

    He said a team of policemen from Lagos had subjected his family to harassment and intimidation in the past few weeks over alleged purported investigation of his son, Gidado Shuaib, who just returned from a Master’s Degree Programme from the United Kingdom (UK).

    Although Gidado was away to Saudi Arabia to cover the 2017 Hajj for PRNigeria, the police team attempted to bundle his mother, Hajiya Sikirat Shuaib, into a car without presenting any warrant of arrest.

    The alarm raised by Hajiya Sikirat made passers-by to come to her rescue before the publisher arrived on the scene.

    Following pressure from the family that the incident should be indented at a police station, the Police team from Lagos later took the publisher’s wife to Wuye Police Station in Abuja.

    In a 30-paragraph letter addressed to the IGP, dated September 11, the publisher said the team from Lagos claimed that Lagos State Governor Akinwumi Ambode was aware of an alleged massive fraud committed in Lagos involving his son, Gidado Shuaib.

    He said the police team was led by one Inspector Babatunde (08056506863, 08081700099).

    He said:  “On August 21, 2017, my wife received a phone call purported to be from an MTN team coming to deliver a seasonal gift to her. Suspicious of such gifts at a period of insecurity, their calls were ignored.

    “With persistent calls, she told them she was going towards Wuye Market with her sister where they were accosted by four hefty men and a woman claiming to be from the Police.

    “When they attempted to bundle her into their white saloon car, she resisted by raising her voice, shouting for help. She learnt the trick of ‘shouting’ to evade abductions by suspected kidnappers who use names of security agencies to whisk away innocent victims.

    “Realising the implication of her shout that could attract a mob action, they accepted her request to trek together to a nearby Wuye Divisional Police Station for fear of abduction.

    “When I was alerted over the incident, I rushed to the police station on a pajamas and bathroom slippers only to be detained by the policemen, who now seized our telephones and were dialing different telephone numbers from them.

    “When I insisted on what offences we committed for our detention and search on our phones, they claimed that Governor Ambode was aware of an alleged massive fraud committed in Lagos involving my Son, Gidado Shuaib.”

    He also said the team wanted to take him to Lagos but for the intervention of the Wuye Police Station, CSP Solome Hardy, who insisted that the person in detention was not the suspect of the investigation.

    On the police allegation of fraud in Lagos and his son’s alleged involvement, Shuaib said: “Gidado has never spent a night in Lagos in the last five years.

    “In fact, he was only in Lagos on a transit to connect with a foreign airline on a trip to New York to attend the annual United Nations Youths Assembly, where he was invited as a delegate in 2015. He didn’t even return through Lagos but through Abuja Airport. He has, therefore, never spent a single night in Lagos in the last five years.”

    The publisher, therefore, urged the Police boss to provide clear information of the alleged offences purportedly committed by his son; to direct one Inspector Babatunde (08056506863, 08081700099) to stop threatening them with phone calls.

    He urged the police to tender unreserved apology for treating his family like a common criminal without adequate proof of the allegations.

     

  • WATCH OUT FOR MY SON, EEDRIS WARNS DAVIDO AND WIZKID

    NIGERIAN rap icon Eedris Abdulkareem has said his rapper son, Derrick Abdulkareem, is bigger than two of nigeria’s hip hop greats – Wizkid and Davido.

    While speaking to The Nation on where he sees his son in the next five years, Eedris said: “For me I am happy that my son is here doing great and this is just the beginning, I just want the whole Wizkid and Davido to watch out.”

    On what inspired Derrick’s musical ambition, the nine year old disclosed that seeing his father do music all his life has been a major inspiration for him

    “I just love doing music because when I saw my dad doing music I feel like, wow I love to do it,” said Derrick.

    “I used watch foreign music videos and listen to them. And I said wow, I should do it.”

    The ‘Jaga Jaga’ crooner is fully in support of his son’s musical ambition.

    “The first day I did it was in school,” said the Basic Five student who has recorded and released 12 songs online and has an Extended Play (EP) titled ‘KING.’

    “We were doing a party in school, so they called me to come and dance because I’m a dancer. So I told them to give me a beat down to freestyle, so that day he (Eedris Abdukareem) said wow, wow. He started encouraging me from that day.”

    Derrick who aspires to be bigger than his role model, Kendrick Lamar in the next five years mentioned his dad as his number one role model.

    On collaborations, Derrick said he looks forward to working with Chocolate City boss M. I Abaga “because I love the way he raps and I love his kind of hip hop music.”

    On how he comes up with his rap verses, Derrick said “Uhmmm, I used to think like what people have not said before or heard before I used to do somethings.”