The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON)has reiterated its commitment towards ensuring standardised products for the safety of lives and properties of Nigerians.
The SON Director-General, Mallam Farouk Salim said this while briefing newsmen after destroying some substandard tyres in Abuja.
Salim, represented by the Director, North-Central Region of SON, Sale Babaji, said the essence of destroying the tyres was to deter importers of substandard products into the country.
According to him, the organisation had tried to fine importers of substandard products but the measure did not work, that is why it resorted to destroying the tyres.We are here to destroy substandard tyres that we have detained from the importers worth millions of naira. It is not our wish to do that but we are doing that to serve as a deterrent to the importers.
We have warned severally but they refused to abide by our instruction.So we are doing this excersise to serve as a deterrent so that those who are bringing in substandards, to destroy our economy, destroy lives, will not be permitted to do that,"he said. According to Salim, it is dangerous to use substandard tyres for our lorries, cars, buses or private cars as it will lead to loss of lives and properties. He said :We are conscious of the environmental hazards but we are doing it just to serve as deterrent.That is why we engaged the services of Abuja Municipal Council (AMAC) to give us their site to do the destruction. A lot of tyres have been destroyed today worth millions, we have gathered them from various locations in the North Central before carrying out the excercise. “
According to the director-general, the importers and consumers have been adequately sensitised on the effects of substandard tyres but they still engage in it.
Also, the FCT State Coordinator of SON, Isiaku Gamajira, said SON was able to carry out the excercise due to intense enforcement, in spite of strong resistance by the importers.
Gamajira said:Our mandate in line with SON Act 2015, mandates that we can cease and even destroy substandard tyres that is why we are doing this. On recognising quality tyres, he advised consumers to do physical examination first before purchasing tyre to ensure it is smooth without any bend. Secondly, tyres have date of expiry, if u look, you will see a four digit letter. For instance 5023, means it was manufactured on the 50th week of year 2023.And in Nigeria, tyre is expected to expire after four years. That is why the road safety which are our major stakeholders decide to do tyre inspection during their patrol. Gamajira said SON was engaging in lots of surveillance to ensure consumers get value for their money and also ensure safety of lives. He said:We have done classification, there are fairly used tyres which the organisation have totally frowned at, expired tyres and substandard tyres.So Nigerians should try to look out for the best of tyres , do physical examination, check the expiry date and ensure it is not fairly used for their safety." According to Gamajira, SON has lots of schemes in place to ensure products that come into Nigeria or are locally manufactured have gone through the required quality checks. He said the organisation had two key policies, the SONCAP for imported products and MANCAP for the locally manufactured products. He therefore urged consumers to demand for both certificates when necessary to ensure the quality of the products they purchases. There is another scheme called Product Registration, this is for us to have a data base and for the purpose of traceability of products that are Imported.You will see SON logo, each of that product that is registered have a unique number , so take time to look out for the SON logo and possibly ask for verified documentation. For the locally manufactured products, you will see a logo that has two eagles on it, it is green in colour. Once your product is verified you will have mancap certification.And to step up that , the management came up with a scheme called Product Authentication Mark (PAM). As soon as you see the PAM sticker and you scratch , there is a number (short code that you will see and send and a reply will come to you that the product is of good quality,” he said.
Similarly, Mr Jubril Isah, a Principal Officer at SON, said the exercise would continue because the mandate of SON was to safeguard lives and properties of citizens at all times.
“That is the mandate given to us by the National Assembly. The act is there, and we are going to follow it up,” he said.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)