No benefit in destroying goods’, says SON

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

The Standard Organization of Nigeria(SON) has said the agency does not in anyway enjoy the often destruction of goods, as it neither benefits no one.

That since such goods are found to be substandard and injurious to lives and economy of the nation, they are better destroyed, not unmindful of the huge economic benefit being lost.

Speaking at a one day workshop on Facilitating Trade Through SON’s Services organized for maritime stakeholders in Lagos, the Director General,  Standard Organization of Nigeria(SON),  Osita Aboloma  re-echoed the organization’s readiness to continually protect Nigerians from the dangers of fake, substandard and dangerous goods.

The Head,  Enforcement Unit and that of Inspectorate and Compliance Directorate(ICD) of the organization , Obiora Manafa onbehalf of the DG said the goods that are often destroyed only enrich the countries that produce them, while the importers and Nigeria economy are impoverished.

He urged Nigerians, mostly importers to always do the right thing so that SON would stop seizing and stop destroying goods because their obligation is to protect the lives of people.

“We are not happy each time we destroy products, because of the losses encountered by the importers and nation, in all these things the foreign countries have collected money from us, and for the fact we can’t allow substandard products get into the country and kill our citizens, we destroy them.

“We urge all stakeholders to key into SON activates and collaborate with us in our fight against influx of substandard goods.

“SON will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute those that import substandard products into the country in line with our Act 14 of 2015.

“We have a mandate to protect the lives of Nigerians, and we will continue to achieve that mandate by the special grace of God. And we shall not leave any stone unturned in achieving this task.

The SON DG further called for collaboration among the major stakeholders in the maritime sector, as well as the general public, stressing that such is the key to achieving reduced substandard import.

He maintained that stakeholders need to be properly and adequately enlightened on the right things concerning what they should do and SON’s regulatory tools and requirements.

“The forum acts as a clearing house for all stakeholders and operators to smoothen all rough edges, with a view to moving the Nation forward. We need to disabuse the minds of those who think that SON is out to close down their businesses,” he said.

He underscored the benefits of the conference to includes, encouraging seamless importation and clearance, Improving the level of compliance with import requirements and standards by importers and freight forwarders, Improving stakeholders/sister agencies collaboration, co-operation and synergizing, realizing the cardinal objectives of federal Government’s economic
diversification, Ease of Doing Business Policies among others.

The DG however reiterated that, “Having partnered with ANLCA and NAGAFF and other key stakeholders to organise this workshop, we look forward to seeing more collaborations with other key stakeholders in various sectors of the economy,” he maintained.