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Tag: SON

  • SON seals warehouse with N2b sub-standard products

    SON seals warehouse with N2b sub-standard products

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has sealed a warehouse with over N2 billion sub-standard automobile products in Lagos.

    Its Head of Inspection and Compliance, Mr Bede Obayi, said the level of sub-standard products in the country is 45 per cent, adding that  SON’ ‘operation flush sub-standard products from the country’ is working.

    Obayi, who led the team to the warehouse in Orile, said the products were imported from China and were repackaged and branded with a known manufacturer’s brand, to confuse consumers.

    He said SON gathered that the importer brought in the goods  between June, last year and this June, adding that the 194 containers had 82  inferior motorcycle spare parts.

    An Indian man was arrested and handed over to the police, Obayi added.

    “From our investigations, the importer imports empty packs  and re-packages them with the inferior products, which is adulteration and economic sabotage,” Obayi added.

    He said: “No documents show that the importer got clearance, and as monitored from the Nigerian trade hub, Ade Ori Nigeria Ltd, with address of 118 Willoughby Street, Ebute Metta is the importer of the products with no trace of registration of its products with SON.”

    Obayi alleged that Okwuson, a registered company under Chukan multi-ventures, rebranded the spare parts jacket.

    “Daylong and Okwuson are brand names adulterated and the inferior spare parts re-packaged inside the jackets are probably from Onitsha or Nnewi, as investigation reveals,”, Obayi added.

    He said there was no evidence of SONCAP certificates for the spare parts, tyres and tubes.

    He advised consumers to demand the country of origin from the products they want to buy.

  • FAO, SON partner on food security in Africa

    The Food and Agriculture Organis-ation of the United Nations (FAO) in partnership with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) are calling for the development of sustainable agriculture and food security in Nigeria and Africa at large.

    Justifying the need for the partnership, FAO said based on the continued increase of human population in Africa said by 2030, Africa will need to feed about 1.5 billion people and by 2050, close to 2 billion, hence agriculture needs to be more recognised for inclusive economic growth and food security in Africa.

    The representative of FAO in Nigeria, Dr. Louise Setsehwaelo made this call during her keynote Lecture at the Africa Standardisation Day seminar organised by the African Organisation for Standardardisation (ARSO), in Abuja, stating that Africa’s economic growth needs to be inclusive.

    She said, “African countries still need to do a lot more, both individually and collectively.  We have what it takes to move forward, we have the human capacity and other factors needed to drive the economy.

    “Agriculture needs to be recognised for inclusive economic growth food security in Africa. Based on the continued increase of human population in Africa, by 2030, Africa will therefore need to feed about 1.5 billion people and close to 2 billion people by 2050.”

    Also speaking, Director General, SON, Joseph Odumodu affirmed that Africa is the only continent that cannot feed itself fully. “We import some of our food to feed ourselves. It is not debatable if agriculture is important in Nigeria or Africa, agriculture provides food, employment and of course it contributes a lot to our GDP in Nigeria.

    “We need a lot more collaborations with extension workers, people in agriculture. We need to adopt what we call good agricultural practice standards in Nigeria, to ensure that we create a better balance between what we do and the outcomes that we have currently in Nigeria and make agriculture very sustainable,” Odumodu explained.

  • Lam-Adeshina’s son promises ‘more’

    The lawmaker representing Ibadan South East/ North East Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives has thanked his constituency for voting for him.

    In a statement yesterday, Dapo Lam-Adeshina  thanked all the community development associations,youth organisations, vocational, artisan and professional associations for the support given to him during the March 28 National Assembly elections.

    He promised to fulfill all the programmes/promises in his manifesto.

    “I would by the grace of God bring visible transformation, economic relief/empowerment and commendable developmental projects to all the wards, communities and neighborhood in Ibadan North East and Ibadan South East Local Governments”.

    “I still stand by my determination to bring good life and support scheme for the aged and widow, employment support and empowerment for our youth, infrastructural and educational facilities for our public schools, assistance for organisations and associations, regular consultation and interaction with the constituents, market development, loan scheme for traders, sports development provision of water, among other things.

    “I promise to work with all to deliver on all my campaign promises.”

  • Pastor Wale Adefarasin’s son hooked

    Pastor Wale Adefarasin’s son hooked

    The home of the Adefarasin’s was a haven of joy last Saturday as wedding bells rang and merriment filled the air. Emmanuel Ademola Adefarasin, son of Pastor Wale Adefarasin, elder brother of popular Lagos pastor, Paul Adefarasin, got married to his sweetheart, Yewande Adeosu, over the weekend.

    Emmanuel hails from a family that wields immense social and financial influence while Yewande is the daughter of a former Minister of Transport, Chief Oluwole Adeosun. On May 23, at the Imperial, Lekki, Lagos, the lovebirds got married in the traditional way. It was a colourful and sophisticated occasion that screamed opulence.

    The grand moment witnessed the presence of top celebrities and political bigwigs, including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Governor Abiola Ajimobi and Chief Dele Momodu, among others.

  • SON urges synergy among African standards organisations

    SON urges synergy among African standards organisations

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is seeking synergy among National Standards Bodies (NSBs) in Africa to curtail the evils of sub-standard products through the harmonisation of standards for ‘Made in Africa’ products and services.

    At a media launch of the convention logo and information manual, as well as partnership drive for the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) President’s Forum held in Lagos,  Director-General of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, said the mobilisation of all NSBs into the membership of ARSO would drive the standardisation programmes to strengthen the competitiveness of Made-in-Africa products as well as engender regional and or continental fusion into an economic bloc.

    ARSO is an inter-governmental body established by the Organisation for African Union (OAU), now African Union (AU) in 1977 with the support of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

    It is primarily to coordinate the issues of standardisation among all NSBs in Africa to promote the harmonisation of African standards and conformity assessment systems. It also promotes competitiveness of African goods and services by removing all technical barriers to trade.

    The association, Odumodu said, also provides a basis for value addition on African oriented raw materials to promote industrialisation, aside promoting self-sustainability for the continent through intra-African trade, as well as represents the continent in global issues of standardisation, among others.

    According to him, the ARSO President’s forum for Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of NSBs holding from June 22- 24, 2015 in Abuja, Nigeria, is to sensitise the world on the readiness of African standardisers to strengthen the continental integration by breaking inhibiting economic barriers through standardisation to enhance industrial and economic empowerment.

    Odumodu said as part of effort to assist other African countries in the area of standards, SON has given a total of 800 standards valued at $9 million to African countries who don’t have the technical and financial capacity to do so.

    He said the ARSO President’s forum for CEOs of NSBs is one leg of the Forum, which has three sub-events.

  • SON inaugurates national metrology institute

    SON inaugurates national metrology institute

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has opened the National Metrology Institute (NNMI) to boost export base by providing the required confidence and reliability in export goods.

    To ensure accuracy in measurements in the country,  SON had set in motion the establishment of  NMI which would be the custodian  of National Measurement Standard with the highest  measurement reference in the country through traceability to the International System of Units.

    SON’s Director-General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, said the NMI would be responsible for carrying out measurement standards and providing traceability and accuracy of measurement to industries,  laboratories,  trade and commerce,  aviation,  oil and gas, agriculture,  health,  education,  automotive, mining,  power and other sectors of the economy.

    Odumodu, who spoke in Enugu during the ground breaking of NNMI,  said, SON has delivered on its promise of quality of life from 45 per cent to 85 per cent.

    He said in Nigeria there were few cases of housing collapse,  since the sensitisation of Nigerians on buying the right cement products.

  • Adefarati’s son hails progressives

    The son of former Ondo State Governor Adebayo Adefarati, Adegboyega, has lauded the pragmatism of progressive leaders, which facilitated the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.

    He praised the APC leaders for the merger of the legacy parties that formed APC.

    The Akoko Southeast/Southwest House of Representatives aspirant congratulated Buhari and the Vice-President elect, Prof.Yemi Osinbajo.

    He said with the election result, Akoko people have fulfilled their promise to vote for APC as pledged when Osinbajo visited Akungba-Akoko last week.

    Adefarati urged the citizenry to vote massively for the House of Assembly candidate for the constituency in the April 11 election.

  • ‘Help save my son’

    ‘Help save my son’

    You can help save the life of three-year-old Fatai Owolabi who was born like every other normal baby. The mother gave birth to him without complications but problem began after she was discharged from hospital. The child has  to be flown to abroad for special treatment in order to live a normal life.

    Fatai was diagnosed of Cerebral Palsy at the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja. He requires about N4.8million for special medical treatment in Indian.

    His father, Sulaimon Owolabi told The Nation that Fatai cannot talk, sit or stand. According to him, Fatai does not eat or take breast milk but sometimes takes some fluid. He said he had gone to many traditional medicine practitioners, spiritualists and churches seeking solution to the problem. He stated that he had spent all the money he had on the boy’s health, yet there is no positive  result.

    He said he sold his piece of land to raise money to secure adequate treatment for the child.

    He lamented: “I cannot even calculate or say exactly how much I have spent on him. I have been on this matter since his birth and I didn’t know it was a medical issue. The problem the boy has is from the brain and the doctor said it is called cerebral palsy and that we need to fly him out for special treatment, and that will cost us N4.8million.”

    He is, therefore, appealing to the Lagos State Government and other good spirited individuals to rally support for him to raise this sum of money to enable him take his son to overseas for treatment

    “I started carrying him about for help, some gave us stipend, some did not respond to our request at all. Even the Governor of Lagos State, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, who saw the boy promised that he would help us. He sent someone to us but we are yet to hear from him,’’ he said.

    On how the problem started, Owolabi narrated: “The mother gave birth to him a normal delivery and after about five minutes he cried but when we took him home the following day he could neither cry, take water nor breast, his eyes began to go up. We took him to hospital where he spent about a month and half and when they discharged him to us we felt that the problem was over, but after three months we expected him to respond, but he couldn’t respond to us”.

    “The mother began to get worried but I tried to calm her down urging her to still examine him for some time but after the sixth and seventh months he couldn’t respond even to the call of his name that was when I started looking for solutions

    The Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Dr. M. A. Salisu, in a telephone call confirmed that Fatai was diagnosed of Spastic Diplegic Cerebral Palsy of moderate severity. In addition, the boy suffers from sensory deficits, including visual, hearing and speech impairment.

    In a report presented to The Nation, Dr. Salisu said that management of the boy’s condition would be long-term and would involve the use of medications, rehabilitative procedures and expected inter-current illnesses. It is recommended that he attends the paediatric neurology clinic bimonthly.

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  • SON destroys substandard goods

    Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON),last week, destroyed imported fake products worth   over N500 million.

    The substandard products which is 80 per cent electricity cables in nine trucks  were collected from various points at the ports and border stations.

    Speaking at the destruction exercise in Sagamu dumpsite in Ogun state, Head of Inspectorate / Compliance, Mr. Bede Obayi  described the destruction of substandard products as economic loss to the country.

    “We have carried out our tests on the products and failed. We need to evacuate and destroy them completely as they pose dangers to life and ruin the nation’s economy.”

    He explained that the products were burnt in accordance with SON’s procedure which started with market survey, surveillance, inventory, seizure, sampling, laboratory tests and analyses to ascertain conformity to specifications and requirements of Nigeria Industrial Standards (NIS).

    He said: “It is disheartening that despite all efforts carried out by the agency to sensitive the citizenry on the negative effects of fake and substandard goods, the merchants continue to engage in the illicit trade.

    Obayi pointed out that the Son is committed to zero tolerance against substandard products, saying that this destruction is to serve notice to unscrupulous importers that SON are not relenting in wiping off substandard products in the country.

    “We are going to intensify our efforts to ensure that these kinds of products do not circulate in the Nigerian markets and importers should desist from the acts because this is not a game they will, “ he said.

    He noted that with the implementation of National Quality Policy (NQP) by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) would accelerate the global competitiveness and high rate of acceptability of locally produced goods because they will be certified of meeting the quality and standard requirements in Nigeria.

    He pointed out that the agency would continue to make stringent efforts to showcase Nigerian products at the global arena, saying “we cannot allow fake and substandard goods, mainly imported from overseas to kill the nation’s economic re-vitalisation dream.

    “In 2015, we will surpass our target of reducing the penetration of the substandard products into our country.”

  • Africa need quality infrastructure to drive free trade – Odumodu

    Africa need quality infrastructure to drive free trade – Odumodu

    The Director-General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr Joseph Odumodu, on Friday said African countries needed quality infrastructure to kick-start the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA).

    He made the declaration in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    According to him, without turning around the poor state of infrastructure in the continent, it will be difficult for the African Union (AU) to promulgate the CFTA law by 2017.

    “The Continental Free Trade Area means that Africa will become one common market, just like the European Union markets.

    “We will collapse all boundaries, depending on what the African Union Heads of State agree on.

    “We may not apply any kind of tariffs because we need to break down the tariffs that are barriers to trade seamlessly with each other.

    “In doing that, we must ensure that we have all attained a comfortable level of development in terms of quality infrastructure,’’ he said.

    Odumodu said that if there were no infrastructure in a particular country, it meant that that country had to accept others’ infrastructure, for it to be able to trade with other countries.

    According o him, there is also a mutual agreement, which come with a free trade area.

    He said that the mutual agreement means that when a product is tested in South Africa, there would be no need to test it again in other countries.

    Odumodu urged that African countries should begin to appreciate the essence of a robust quality infrastructure for the continent.

    He said that it would be a way to ensure that trade within African countries could be accomplished and begin to build a better economy for the continent.

    “We realise also that we are not prepared to trade with other continents in terms of level of preparedness,’’ he said.

    The Director-General said that to begin to build African economies, wide preparedness for the CTFA was needed to involve the regional economic communities.

    He listed such regional communities to include the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Community, the North African Community and the South African Community.