New SON’s boss, MAN, make case for agency’s return to nation’s ports

The newly-appointed Director-General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr Farouk A. Salim, and the president of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN), Engineer Mansur Ahmed have called on the federal government to reconsider its decision and return officials of the standards regulatory agency to the nation’s ports to check the influx of fake and sub-standard products into the country.

Making the call at an interactive session between officials of the agency and select council of the manufacturers’ association, in Lagos, on Thursday, the agency’s newly-appointed Director-General, argued that the nation’s war against fake and sub-standard products would only be meaningful and more effective; if the agency’s officials were on the ground at the ports to ensure substandard products never found their ways into the country.

He argued that though there were other agencies such as NAFDAC and the nation’s customs services, carrying out product inspections at the port, he, however, believed none of them had the capacity to authenticate product standardization.

Salim expressed the hope that if the men of the agency were fully on the ground at the ports, there would be no need for them running after containers on the streets, to check whether the products they contained were of standards, as being presently done, since such containers must have been checked by the agency’s men, before being issued clearance certificate.

He added that enhancing the standards of local products would, besides protecting the local industry, also go a long way in making local products globally competitive.

“The need to do everything to enhance products standards in Nigeria has become very imperative, especially with the coming of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). If this is not done, Nigeria may be turned into a dumping site when the AfCFTA eventually kicks off.

“We are determined to protect the local industry and ensure that goods produced or brought into the country are of standards. That is why we also believe that being at the nation’s ports where some of the goods are brought in is important to enable us to access their standards. Having to run after containers, on the streets, as we presently do after such containers must have been cleared at the ports is definitely not the way to go about it,” the SON boss stated.

Also throwing the association’s weight behind the agency’s call for its return to the nation’s ports, MAN’s president, Engineer Mansur, noted that with the presence of SON’s officials at the nation’s ports, and adequate deployment of technology, the agency would be better equipped to carry out its statutory duties.

He also called on the agency to come to the aid of local manufacturers by providing more testing laboratories and also ensuring that new and uncertified companies were not issued Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) Certifications.

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