The Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) has blamed insincerity on the part of the importers and their agents as its reason for intercepting containers on the highway.
Speaking at a stakeholder’s forum in Lagos recently, the Director-General of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu recalled that the organization used to guide container to the warehouses but have to stop it when the importers and their agents devised new method of eluding the organization.
Odumodu explained that as a result of the antics of the importers to beat SON to its game and evade inspection, they have to evolve the idea of intercepting a container suspected to have fake and sub-standard products.
According to him,” we normally have this process of guiding containers and we follow you to the warehouse and we lock it. Are you aware of that? You should be asking, why did we stop doing it? Because we started noticing that warehouses haven the tendency to move from one place to another. So, you go, you seal a warehouse, put your stamp and go home and then the next day you come, it will be like, is it not here we put the containers?”
“So, please understand what we are doing. But one thing I must tell you, we do not follow containers that are right and I am sure amongst you, you have to agree that when your container is followed and you present your papers and nothing happens. We also have intelligence about what is not done right and that is why we follow”.
He further disclosed that they have discovered that there were certain outlets that still clear certain kinds of goods and that once consignments came from those outlets; they have no option to than to follow them aware that those consignments fall short of standards.
While appealing to the stakeholders to understand that SON was not out to punish anybody, he however expressed his willingness to work with them to eradicate sub-standard products from the Nigerian Market.
“So, like I said, please let us really understand but I want to work with you and I am going to be discussing with your leaders on how we are going to move ahead on this issue. So, it is all about our collaboration and cooperation. Please things are going to improve”, he said.
Speaking on tyres, Dr. Odumodu noted that while tyres lasts for five years in some countries before it expires, because of the environmental factors in Nigeria, tyres only last for four years before it expires adding that SON would soon launch campaign so as to help people understand the expiry dates on tyre.
He said,” there is what we call DOT and ACT numbers on the tyres. If you see DOT 1104, it means that that tyre was manufactured in the eleventh week in the year 2004. So, you now add your four year, it is 2008, that means the tyre had expired and those are the kind of numbers that you see on tokunbo tyres but somebody will tell you no, it is still very strong. No! It is not true, it is not strong”.
