Fake products: SON launches Operation Flush out quacks

 STANDARD Organisa­tion of Nigeria (SON) yesterday, warned manu­facturers of fake and sub-standard
products in the country to desist from their nefarious activities or face prosecution.
Director General of the agency, Dr. Joseph Ikemefuna Odumodu, handed down the warning at the weekend, during a media briefing on the or­ganisation’s activities and achievements in the last few years.
Represented by Mr. Louis Njoku, Director and Head of Laboratory Services; and Bede Obayi of the Inspectorate and Compliance Directorate, Odumodu said SON has launched ‘Operation Flush’ to tackle substandard, fake, adulterated and counterfeit products in the country.
He disclosed how, in or­der to be a step ahead of forgers, SON remodelled its Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP), which is now transmitted electronically through a single window.
“With its success, forg­ers are no longer happy because they can no longer forge the SONCAP.
He said: “The era of im­punity is gone…Change is here. We will not allow a few people make blood money. Fortunately for us, the SON Act was amended by the Seventh National Assembly, which would enable us to function opti­mally and has been assent­ed to by the President and it is in the process of being gazetted.
“If you have done no wrong, you have no rea­son to be afraid…We have to save consumers. We are using our new Act to stem the trend of fake products in Nigeria. A lot of people have suffered…Enough is enough.”
Njoku said SON has sa­nitised the manufacturing sector, having collaborated with critical stakehold­ers in some of Nigeria’s major markets such as Al­aba International Market, Lagos; Onitsha Main Mar­ket, brand owners of mo­bile phones, ASPAMDA, MAN, cable producers and dealers, electric lamp/bulbs importers, steel manufac­turers, aluminium roofing sheets, lubricants, cement manufacturers, iron and steel and block makers.
“Regulation of the cable industry has since made Ni­gerian cables to be among the best in the world.”
In fact, the Nigerian ca­ble is preferred in Ghana because it is safe while ce­ment bags, blocks and steel bars now wear marks indi­cating conformity assess­ment specifications.
“We have trained 20 as­sessors in laboratory ac­creditation and we are re­furbishing our laboratories all over the country. In fact, we are in the process of adding 60 new labora­tories… We intend to set up an Accreditation Board for laboratories in Nigeria, which will help stem rejec­tion of Nigerian products abroad”, he said.
Njoku said his director­ate met with stiff opposi­tion because, “when you are doing this kind of work, you are bound to step on toes…Those feeding fat on fake products, who don’t care about the people they have killed will come after you but we are not fazed.