Sonia Adita bought a piece of bulb for N60 at Oshodi Market in Lagos. Adita was sure that the bulb with a bold inscription, ‘Made in China’, would last for at least two months.
On getting home, Adita put the bulb into a lighting socket and was glad that it worked. Two hours later, the bulb was off. Adita made all efforts to see if the bulb would work again, but all to no avail. He rushed to buy another one and was lucky it lasted for another four days.
Away from the bulb, Haruna Abdusalam, a resident of Kaduna, told his friend Umar Danakam two days ago that his house was almost set on fire when he ‘garnished’ his newly built home with Chinese wires.
Many Nigerians today who have used Chinese wires tell tales of pity, pains and agony concerning how their homes went up in flames or how close relatives were either electrocuted or escaped by hair’s breadth.
Chinese products imported into Nigeria, the so-called Africa’s largest economy, have proven to be short of acceptable quality, thanks to the inability of authorities, particularly the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), to checkmate them.
The SON was set up to ensure that goods produced locally or those imported into the country meet the globally acceptable standards.
While the agency has done considerably well in ensuring the locally manufactured products meet standards, it has failed to check unbridled importation of fake and sub-standard products into the country.
A recent case was the issue of fake tyres imported into the country, which was speculated to have been the major cause of death of James Ocholi, minister of state for labour and employment, and his wife and son.
The SON began to mop up tyres and search for the importer only when the damage had been done. And, according to experts, that was because it affected a so-called ‘big man’.
“Who knows how many people would have died from such tyres. We live in a country where nobody cares to investigate what kills people. Once people die, nobody cares again. The action of SON shows nothing could have been done had it not affected an official of the federal government,” said Tam Igbese, a social critic and managing director of LC Man Limited.
Apart from health hazards, unbridled and unchecked importation of all manner of products have also harmed the local manufacturing industry, which has been in recession in the last two quarters.
Though local manufacturers acknowledge the efforts of the standards organisation in regulating locally made goods, they still say that most of the products from Asia are sub-standard, cheap and still not properly checked.
Frank Udemba Jacobs, president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, told this newspaper that Chinese wines and other products were inferior, contrary to local consumers’ thinking that domestic products were sub-standards.
Today, Nigeria’s textile industry is in doldrums because products imported into the country are cheaper and sub-standard.
Ping-Man Chun, Nichemtex CEO, told minister of state for industry, trade and investment Aisha Abubakar that importation of cheap and substandard products from China has cut jobs in the company from 17,000 to 4,500.
However, it is not all gloom at SON. The agency, under the outgone DG Joseph Ikem Odumodu was able to reduce substandard products in the country from 85 percent to 30 percent.
Odumodu, between 2011 and February 2016, was able to internationally accredit SON’s food and technology laboratories.
He was also able to encourage investments in the cables industry, attracting about N20 billion in the sector by sanitising it. He was also able to build 32 modern labs at Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos, and inaugurated Nigeria National Metrology Institute in Enugu.
Odumodu, while leaving the office, had lamented that economic saboteurs often punctured the wheels of progress of the nation by circumventing processes.
Paul Angya is currently the new sheriff in the SON, though in acting capacity.
His first visible assignment was on fake tyres, which reportedly killed the minister of state for labour and almost his entire family.
Angya told a conference that any dealer of fake would henceforth, would be charged with murder.
He vowed to put an end to importation of used and sub-standard tyres into the country, saying that the SON was going to play along with Federal Government change mantra which does not give room for corruption.
He noted that 8,986 accidents were recorded in 2015, while 4,100 were killed and 732 people died as a result of tyre bust. He urged the tyre dealers to corporate with the organisation by putting an end to importation of sub-standard tyre into the country. “We are ready to eliminate importation of sub-standard products into Nigeria. Owing to this, we have reached out to other government agencies to ensure that we work together and stop the smugglers of fake products into the country,” he said.
“Our Act is empowered us to jail promoter of sub-standard product up to ten years and we will not relent to jail any culprit,” he said.
SON boss said the agency was doing its best to strengthen laboratories system to ensure that Nigeria products would not be rejected overseas.
Currently, SON’s officials chase trailers and containers on the highways in order to ensure they are properly inspected.
Angya complained that the agency was not allowed to enter the ports, a situation that might have been responsible for importation of fake and substandard products into the country.
“Put us at the ports, we will hold unscrupulous importers. SON was removed from the ports to facilitate trade, but that trade is killing Nigeria and Nigerians now. We can’t continue like this. Our young ones can’t get jobs because there are no manufacturing companies,” he stressed.
He criticised a situation where traders tried to circumvent established policies of goods clearance only to turn round to blame regulatory agencies for hampering their activities.
Also, SON has announced plans to begin enforcement of the use of energy-saving
appliances in the country, as a way of conserving the country’s energy resources.
This is coming against the background of opinions that Nigeria needs to use only energy-efficient equipment as a way of checkmating current wastage of scarce power resources.
According to Angya, energy-endowed countries of the world were working towards reducing energy
consumption, maintaining that Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind.
Angya, who was represented by Richard Adewunmi, head of electrical, SON, said,
“When the standards are implemented, it will form part of our SONCAP requirement. The implication is that before any importer can bring in electronic appliances, he must conform to the minimum energy requirement of the standards.”
“Renewable energy as we all know is not cheap. If we want to migrate to renewable energy, we need to ensure that people maximise its usage. We identified several electrical appliances that are frequently used in the household and we decided to start with lamps. Previously, you need a 60 watts lamp to lighten your house, but now what is needed is just 15 watts. The initiative will help to conserve over 30 per cent of energy when fully implement monthly,” he said.
Nigerians who spoke with BDSUNDAY said there was need for the SON to have a braodbased objective of checking importation of fake and substandard products, and employ its right of arrest and prosecution to save the lives of the people. They add that the agency also needs to protect local industries.
ODINAKA ANUDU
