The Nation Newspaper

Tag: SON

  • Used tyres: SON intensifies surveillance in Adamawa

    The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is intensifying its surveillance across markets in Adamawa, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    Mr Sunday Galadima, the state Coordinator of the organisation, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Yola that the exercise followed reports of influx of used tyres in the state.

    Galadima said the state office embarked on the surveillance to rid the state of the dangers of used or second hand tyres and other substandard goods.

    “We conducted enforcement where we seized most of substandard and used tyres.

    “In fact, during the operations we seized new expired tyres from some shops,” Galadima said.

    READ ALSO: Firm’s MD remanded for allegedly dealing in substandard engine oil

    He said the state office was collaborating with Nigeria Customs Service and other sister agencies to checkmate the influx of substandard goods into the state.

    On the number of substandard goods seized, he assured the record would be made public as soon as it was ready.

    He therefore urged the general public to report any suspicious product to the state office for verification.

  • SON sensitises public on standardisation

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is holding market surveillance on product standardisation, quality assurance, and metrology in different parts of the country.

    The Director-General, Osita Aboloma, who was represented by the Regional Coordinator for North Central, Charles Nwagbara at the seminar in Ilorin, Kwara State, said the seminar is expected to teach participants a strategic, preventive and intelligent investigation to identify and deal with fake, adulterated and substandard products, and allow the genuine MANCAP/SONCAP certified products to compete in the market.

    Read also: Man remanded in prison for alleged fraud

    He said: “It is my expectation that this seminar will expose the participants to a more effective and efficient knowledge and skills that impact our market surveillance activity products compliance to standard quality and regulatory requirements.

    “Your commitment, competence and team work are paramount to effectively and efficiently achieve the market surveillance targets/ milestones. You are expected to actively communicate and offer technical support and training to other workers who could not join this seminar on your return to your respective state offices,”

    He urged the public to purchase standard and certified products.

  • SON, NSC, others eye 30% clearing cost reduction

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Shippers Council and related agencies are partnering on trade facilitation.

    This will see operators  adhere to standards, ethics, integrity and quality in service delivery and ultimately reduce clearing cost by about 30 per cent.

    Speaking at a workshop titled: “Ethics and integrity”organised by SON, in collaboration with operators, SON Director-General Osita Aboloma said adhering to a code of ethics ensures that customers and stakeholders get quality services.

    SON, he explained, has put in place an electronic procedure for goods clearance, issuance of demand notes and receipts.

    These measures, he said were aimed at reducing human interaction with clearing, and ultimately, eliminate sharp practices.

    Aboloma warned importers against false declarations and substandard products import without the offshore conformity assessment (SONCAP). He said the organisation will engage stakeholders to ensure that operators adhere to principles.

    Read also: APGA: Buhari’s policies will stabilise economy

    The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Mr. Hassan Bello, said the Council was working for a 30 per cent reduction in the cost of clearing cargoes. This, he explained, followed an agreement with terminal operators and shipping firms.

    Hassan regretted that most of the charges being paid by importers were not tied to services. He said SON and NSC would not only facilitate the ease of doing business but also reduce the cost of doing business. He assured that by next month, when the agreement would have been signed, all the charges will be published for everybody to know what to pay to which agency.

    He said: “We have to take into consideration the cost of cargo; some costs are not justified. They are not tied to service and that is what we have been calling for. The shipping companies have been very understanding. We have gone through all the  costs, so that we can have a template. We are not going to control cost. But we will not allow arbitrary charges in the port in the course of clearing cargoes.”

    While urging stakeholders to adhere to international best practices, the NSC boss said the Council’s goal is to promote an efficient port system that will encourage healthy competition, enthrone transparency, facilitate trade, reduce cost of doing business and make players aware of their duties, obligations, responsibilities and liabilities. This, he said, would go a long way in actualising the Council’s drive for a new port order, reduce cost and improve efficiency.

    “With high ethical practice in place, vices, such as impunity, presumptuous behaviours and ignorance with respect to adherence to procedures, rules and regulations, will be minimised,” he said.

  • Dad, son face N44.3m cashew nut fraud charge

    A 62-year-old man, Adeyanju Gbadegesin Louis, and his son,  Mark, yesterday appeared before an Igbosere Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly defrauding an agricultural firm, Thoam Farms Ltd, of N44,844,450.

    The Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (CIID), Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos, alleged that the duo obtained the cash on the pretext of supplying the company with cashew nut.

    Louis and Mark were arraigned alongside their company, Society Adeglobal Resources, located at Plot C55, Amuwo-Odofin Industrial Estate, Lagos, before Chief Magistrate O. O. Oshin.

    Prosecuting counsel Morufu Animashaun alleged that the defendants and others, who are on the run, committed the offences “on or about June 7, 2018 at Plot C55, Amuwo-Odofin Industrial Estate, Lagos.”

    He said they cajoled the company to invest the money in a cashew nut business.

    Animashaun said: “They received N44,844,450.00 from the firm on the pretext that they have in their company, cashew nut valued at the amount for instant supply.

    “Upon receiving the money, they failed to supply the cashew nut and refused to return the money to the firm.”

    Louis and Mark pleaded not guilty.

    Read also: Nigerian media’s one way traffic

    Their counsel, Kola Akosile, prayed the court to grant them bail “in the most liberal terms.

    “They have no previous criminal record and have credible sureties to stand for them.”

    Chief Magistrate Oshin admitted each defendant to N1 million bail with one responsible surety.

    She ordered each surety to deposit N500, 000 in an interest yielding account of the court’s registrar.

    The sureties, who must be residents of Lagos State, must show evidence of three years’ tax payment to the Lagos State Government, Mrs. Oshin added.

    She remanded father and son in prison custody pending their fulfilment of the bail conditions and adjourned till February 13.

  • SON destroys N8.4m fake goods in Kano

    Standards Organization Of Nigeria ( SON ) has destroyed fake and substandard goods worth over N8.4m in Kano.

    The substandard items which were confiscated towards the end of 2018 from markets across the state include 83 bags of 25 kg rice, 275 bags of Mosquito coils, I90 cartons of shaving sticks, NOCACO Cables, 6 bags of fertilizer, 146 trays of brake fluid and 7 bales of empty sacks of rice.

    SON Northwest Regional Coordinator, Alhaji Adamu Abba who represented the Director General Anthony Aboloma at the destruction of the items, revealed that the goods were impounded, following a tip-off from the markets, in collaboration with sister agencies and effort of the organisational staff.

    He said SON does not derive pleasure in destroying inferior items considering the economic waste and associated with the environmental pollution from the burning of the goods.

    Read Also: FRSC recruits 4,650 personnel, begins training nationwide

    According to him, there is need for manufacturers and distributors of such items to know how committed the organisation is in protecting the rights and safety of consumers from being shortchanged.

    “We need to ensure that in line with our mandate, we do not spear anybody involved in production and distribution of such goods.”

    Also speaking the Kano –Jigawa Coordinator of SON, Alhaji Yunusa B. Muhammad said all necessary procedure were followed before burning the fake items such as securing a court order that gave the body the rights to conduct the burning of the goods.

    The destruction exercise were witnessed by Police, customs, NAFDAC, DSS, NESREA, CIVIL DEFENCE, and Kano consumer protection council.

  • Gunmen kill man, wife, son over land

    Gunmen have killed a man, his only son, wife and granddaughter over a piece of land.

    The man, identified as Edebiri and his family were shot dead at their home at Ugbogun village in Uhunmwode Local Government Area of Edo State.

    Two of his daughters narrowly escaped death, as they were in the room when the gunmen struck.

    Narrating what happened, the deceased’s elder brother, who gave his name as Pa Osaretin Oteh, alleged that his brother might have been killed for refusing to give his land to the Community Development Association (CDA) in the village.

    Pa Osaretin said CDA’s activities were still operational in the community despite the proscription of CDA activities in the state.

    He said his late brother refused to allow the CDA members take possession of the land.

    A daughter of the deceased, Sandra, said the gunmen pointed a gun at her head and demanded money, phones and jewellery.

    She said she heard gunshots and when she opened her eyes, she discovered that her parents and sibling had been killed.

    Sandra said her father had informed them about threat to his life, but they did not take the information seriously until the gunmen struck.

    Her sister, Princess, said the gunmen fired at all of them in the room to ensure that they were killed.

    “They killed our father, mother, brother and my niece. We want the police to find the killers.”

    Police spokesman Chidi Nwabuzor could not be reached for comments.

    The bodies have been deposited at the mortuary.

  • Embrace innovation, SON urges farmers

    The Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, (SON), Osita Aboloma, has urged Kano and Jigawa states farmers and sorghum processors to embrace the constant innovation provided in the standardisation process in order to earn premium on the commercialisation of high quality sorghum products.

    Aboloma gave the advice during a paper presentation in Kano at a training on food safety standards for food processors. He stressed the need for farmers and regulatory agencies to collaborate with particular reference to sorghum products.

    He said: “The training was part of government’s agricultural transformation agenda to support programme phase 1 organised by the International Crops Research Institute for the semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Develeopment FMARD, International Government Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support Program Phase 1 ATASP-1.”

    Also speaking, the  Sorghum Commodity Specialist/ICRISAT Nigeria Country Representative, Dr. Hakeem Ajeigbe, said the objectives of the project is to enhance agricultural productivity of small and medium scale farmers and processors. He said it was also designed to improve value addition along priority value chains in the participating states by training sorghum food actors on the appropriate food safety standards and regulations.

    The SON Kano, Jigawa States Coordinator, Alhaji Yunusa Muhammad, said the agency will continue to promote product quality and safety, including the agro-allied sector, through the elaboration, review, adoption and harmonisation of standards via stakeholders’ active involvement.

     

  • SON flays circulation of substandard lubricants

    •Reassures compliant firms of protection

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has vowed to fight manufacturers of substandard, fake and adulterated lubricants.

    Its Director-General Mr. Osita Aboloma, who made this known in Lagos during a meeting with stakeholders in the lubricant sub-sector, said the move was to protect the people, the environment and the  economy

    He stated that no business interest is worth the life of one Nigerian. “Keeping quiet in the face of injustice is as bad as taking part,” Aboloma told the stakeholders.

    According to him, the meeting was called as a follow-up to the nationwide clampdown on suspected, substandard, fake and adulterated lubricants by SON, following intelligence reports on the massive influx of the life threatening products into the country.

    Aboloma said his agency has  received complaints from consumers about failure of machinery occasioned by substandard, fake and adulterated lubricants, lack of value for money, as well as unwholesome practices by some licensed blenders in Nigeria.

    Other areas of concern, according to him, include abuse and faking of the quality marks, cloning of popular brands and misleading labelling to confuse consumers of lubricant products particularly during the yuletide season.

    Aboloma reiterated the agency’s determination to remain fair and firm in dealing with stakeholders whose facilities were shut down for suspected substandard lubricants, insisting that lubricants must meet requirements of the Nigeria Industrial Standards (NIS), including  traceability, performance and guarantee of value for money.

    The SON boss urged the stakeholders to join in the crusade to confront the menace of life-endangering lubricants frontally, promising to protect compliant businesses and prosecute offenders.

    Aboloma said the registration of lubricants with SON has increased by about 28 per cent, following the raid. This, he said, confirmed the suspicion that many unregistered products were in circulation.

    Responding, the stakeholders commended the SON for embarking on the exercise and pledged their cooperation to tackle the menace.

    They listed steps to sanitise the lubricant subsector to include quality checks at seaports and land borders by relevant regulatory agencies, mandatory spot checks on licensed blending plants in Nigeria by SON under the Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP).

    Others steps include a crack down on unlicensed lubricant blending plants, including prosecution, and improved synergy between SON, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Nigeria Customs Service in plant licensing and import regulation of lubricants.

    At the event were executives and members of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Lubricant Producers Association of Nigeria (LUPAN) and major importers of base oil and lubricants in Nigeria, including chief executives of Dozzy Group, Lubcon Oil, Seahorse, Double One Plc (Formerly Mobil Oil), A-Z Petroleum, OVH EM (formerly Oando Plc).

    Others were AMMASCO International, Obitech Oil, Lawmaco Group Royal Merenge, Necit Nigeria Limited and Petrozy, among others.

     

  • SON retools operations with new appointments

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has made new appointments in its bid to retool operations and enhance service delivery in Nigeria and beyond.

    As part of the retooling exercise, the erstwhile Director of Operations, Mr. Felix Nyado,  an engineer, has been appointed Director, Corporate Affairs/SON Consult, while Mr. Dauda Yakubu, former Regional Coordinator, North West, becomes the Acting Director, Operations.

    A statement from the office of the Director-General, Osita Aboloma, said the redeployments were in furtherance of the Federal Government’s reform vision to infuse innovations into the operations of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

    The shake-up also had Dr. Justin Nickaf move from Planning, Research and Statistics (PRS) to the office of the Director- General in charge of Technical activities, while Dr. Nuhu Yahaya Fana swaps position as Director, PRS.

    Others are Dr. Bartholomew Ugwu (Deputy Director, Operations), Mr. Abba Bauchi is the Regional Coordinator, Northwest.

    The statement reiterated the resolve of SON to constantly review and retool its operations to meet  stakeholders’ demand for improved service delivery.

     

  • SON to importers: stop wasting resources on substandard goods

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has urged importers of substandard goods to desist from wasting huge sums of money on importation of goods that have no consumer utility.

    SON also said that such fake goods would end up being destroyed if intercepted, pointing out that the agency would stop at nothing to protect the lives and property of Nigerians.

    Director-General, SON, Osita Aboloma, represented by the Director, Compliance, SON, Mr Obiora Mmanfa, gave the charge at a destruction site in Lagos yesterday.

    “Please stop wasting your money importing substandard goods, we cannot afford to compromise on quality because the lives and property of Nigerians are paramount and our primary responsibility is to protect Nigerians from these goods that are injurious to families and the nation at large.

    “We are here to destroy some substandard products we intercepted at the ports, borders and highway, we tested them and found out that they failed the basic parameters for standard products and some of the products have expired.

    ” We do not want these products to find their way into the markets, because they are harmful to human lives,” aboloma said.

    He listed the products that were conveyed to the dumpsite as electric cable, cylinders, expired cigarette packaging materials, tyres, electric bulbs, motorcycle tubes, extension sockets and unfortified sugar.

    According to him, about N22.7 billion worth of substandard goods have been destroyed so far this year, stating that the agency will intensify efforts to tighten the noose where most of the substandard goods find their way into the shores of the country.

    “We have been destroying over time and for this year alone we have about  N22.7 billion worth of products where some have been destroyed while some are awaiting destruction.

    “We have thousands of electric cables, stuffed tyres and cylinders in our warehouse waiting for further investigation and analysis,” he said.

    He said that SON could not be happy destroying the goods because the action brought nothing but drain on the national economy and hard-earned foreign exchange, maintaining that SON remained a business facilitator established to help genuine businesses to grow.

    “Our message to the importers is that we are not happy destroying these goods because it is a drain to the national economy and our hard-earned foreign exchange.

    ” Importers pay foreign exchange to import these products and when they bring them in, we seize and destroy them. This is not good for anybody.

    ” We are appealing to them to do the right thing. Comply with our standards because we will not allow people who cut corners to cheat unsuspecting consumers in the country.

    “We have our standards in all our state offices across the country, feel free to come in anytime to obtain these standards before importing goods into the country.

    “We have many items to be destroyed here and more are coming. Once we conclude the investigation going through these products in our laboratory to check for conformity and they fail, we will bring them down here and destroy.

    “This is a continuous process and we will not stop till we achieve our mandate of safeguarding the lives and property of Nigerians,”  he said.

    Meanwhile, a financial analyst, Dr Samuel Nzekwe, has urged the National Assembly to boost infrastructure development and economic growth by reviewing the 2019 budgetary allocation for debt servicing.

    Nzekwe, a past President of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos yesterday while reacting to 2019 Appropriation Bill.

    He said that the amount earmarked for debt servicing, put at N2.14 trillion, was higher than the proposed capital expenditure of N2.03 trillion.

    The Accountant explained that the figures should have been vice-versa, pointing out that the existing arrangement placed the country at a disadvantage.

    Nzekwe said the Federal Government should also ensure the vote for capital expenditure is higher than that of debt servicing.

    The Accountant said that the projected revenue, especially from the oil sector was realistic because of price instability at the international oil market.

    He further said that a fall in revenue might affect the servicing of the loans and the infrastructure development in the country.

    Nzekwe said: “The amount for servicing of the debt is on the high side. It is almost the same with the capital expenditure budget.”