The Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) has accused the importers of not fulfilling their own obligations in respect to compliant trade which in turn cannot ease business in Nigeria.
The Director Inspectorate and Compliance of SON, Engr. Bede Obayi who made this accusation was speaking against the backdrop of increasing rate of false declaration as evident in the illegal arms importations witnessed in the first eight months of 2017 leading to their seizures by the Nigeria Customs Service at the Tincan Island Ports in Lagos.
According to him,”We don’t want people to false declare, what you have, you declare it correctly and it helps us to monitor it. You could see, where there are security lapses, where somebody will now carry weapons and put in a container, why should that be? So, what we are doing is to make sure that you declare correctly.
“Nobody has declared that he is bringing weapons among those interceptions and so, that is telling you that importers are not fulfilling their own obligations with respect to compliant trade and that cannot ease business. Government alongside its agencies cannot fold hands to allow you to use false declaration and clear Nigeria with substandard products, with dangerous products that are not good for anybody to use”.
Obayi informed that following efforts by SON in collaboration with the local manufacturers under the aegis of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), especially the cables manufacturers in the country, they had ensured that made in Nigeria cables were the best in the world.
“And so, people are now cloning imported products as if they are made in Nigeria products and in almost all these, made in Nigeria products are certified to our NIS and MANCAP certifications and so, you find people now going to clone their brands and bring into the country as if they are made in Nigeria and already certified by the Standards Organization of Nigeria and it is not true because imported products cannot be branded as made in Nigeria. We are proud of these products and we want to sell them out, we want to export them to other countries.
“So, we have to export those compliant products. So, if you bring in these products from outside and label them as if made in Nigeria, they have not been tested, have not been validated in terms of their characteristics and that is why SON is saying that we cannot allow non compliant trade into Nigeria. Anybody who wants to import must import along our Conformity Assessment Programme”, he said.
While describing the SONCAP scheme of the agency as an offshore Conformity Assessment Programme, the Director added that it was an opportunity offered by the organization to those who want to import any product into the country to get in touch with their overseas accredited agents all over the world.
He gave the names of the accredited agents as Intertech, CCIC, SGS and COTECNA saying that these were the four world class testing companies that had been engaged by SON to ensure that goods coming into the country complied with the requirements of standard.
“And so, if anybody makes use of the opportunity by making sure that what you want to bring into this country passes through these our agents, you will be properly guided and when your goods come into the country, we will give them smooth access into the country. That is ease of doing business, making sure that we complied with requirements of the standards”, he added.
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