About 200 containers of seized stuffed-in tyres were, on Friday, evacuated from a warehouse located in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, by officials of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), to prevent the substandard tyres from getting to the nation’s markets.
The agency’s Director-General, Mallam Farouk Salim, in a statement, made available to Tribune Online, on Monday, explained that the tyres had to be evacuated after they had been tested and found to have failed the critical parameters as a result of stuffing.
Salim, who was represented by the agency’s Director, Inspectorate and Compliance, Mike Dakhing , at the evacuation scene, described the evacuation as the first stage in the destruction process of those tyres, adding that the agency would await the necessary legal procedures that would enable it to destroy the unwholesome items, eventually.
He argued that though the evacuation and the eventual destruction process would cost the agency some money, the agency, he, however, added, that the agency had commenced a process that would make importers of such substandard products bear the costs of the destruction.
On why the tyres were being described as substandard, Mallam Salim explained that the act of stuffing those tyres by the importers, as a way of minimizing cost, had compromised their quality.
“The act of stuffing the tyres into one another, instead of bringing them into the country, through different containers, has, no doubt, compromised the quality of those tyres.
“For example, if they are to bring 300 tyres in one container, they will now have the opportunity to bring in 1500 tyres.
This, no doubt, compromises the quality of the tyres; since they are made of wires and carbon. Unfortunately, the tests carried out on the tyres revealed that the textile strength of the tyres has been compromised. They are no longer fit for use, and this is why we are going to destroy them. They may look nice in the eyes, but we rely on scientific investigation and analysis,” he stated.
He assured that SON would also prosecute the importers of those tyres, adding that the agency had the right type of punishments for individuals dealing in fake and substandard products in the country.
“We have a law that specifies what punishment would be meted to purveyors of this kind of illicit trade and we would go by that law. So after destroying these tyres, we will subject these unscrupulous importers to the provisions of the law,” he said.
Mallam Salim, therefore, called on Nigerians to always support the agency by giving relevant information should they suspect any form of dubious activity in their locality; since the standards agency could not be everywhere to checkmate the preponderance of products with no economic value.
He added that SON would raise the level of its sensitization activities across the country, to warn Nigerians who still purchase such substandard products to desist from it, because of the grave consequences of such action.
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