The Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) has indicated its intention to publish the names of sub-standard products in the media as a means of further protecting the consumers from buying such products in the market.
Speaking at a World Press Conference to mark this years’ World Day for Standards with the theme,” Made in Nigeria for the World”, held in Lagos last week, the Director-General of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu disclosed that this was the agency’s new plan hoping that the move would bring about change in the country.
According to him,” from 2015, we will publish the names of the products that are sub-standard in the media and we will warn consumers to stay away from those products. That is the new game plan and it will change the whole way the business is run”.
Odumodu who frowned at the rate sub-standard products were flooding the Nigerian Markets stated that efforts were on to ensure that any product that was imported from abroad into the country must be a product that was in use in the country of origin .
“However, let me tell you that in the next three or four months, there is a new game that will show up. Every shipper that carries substandard products into Nigeria will have himself or herself to blame. But this is something that will happen at the highest level of government. That is what our plan is”, he said.
Speaking on the theme of the celebration, Dr. Odumodu stated that the theme was not an ambitious one as according to him, Nigeria had competitive and comparative advantage in several areas such as the agro-allied products, metals, minerals as well as other natural deposits which ought to place her ahead of other countries of the world.
He added that government was also putting incentives in place so as to concentrate on those areas where Nigeria had comparative and competitive advantage in order that products from such areas would enter the world markets even as he affirmed that foreigners must begin to pay the salaries of Nigerian workers.
He said,” part of the new 2015 gift that we will give to consumers is that from 2015, we shall ensure that imported products carry mark. If you see that, you will buy that product because it is the right product”.
“What we are doing now is to fine-tune because when the mark comes, everybody will put the mark, we will be able to use some electronic system to ensure that the ones that don’t carry the right mark are exposed”.
While rendering his scorecard, Dr. Odumodu observed that the launch of zero tolerance campaign to rid the market of fake and sub-standard goods had reduced the prevalence of fake and sub-standard products from 85% on his assumption of office to 40% currently amongst other numerous achievements.
Highlight of the Press Conference was a documentary on the achievements of the Standards organization of Nigeria under Dr. Joseph Ikem Odumodu as the Director-General.
