SON to take drastic step against substandard products

….to trIan journalists on ISO

Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), apparently concerned by the volume of substandard products in circulation has expressed readiness to take more drastic steps against them.

The Director General and Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Farouk Salim announced that it is the responsibility of Federal Government to make sure that goods in this country are up to standard, saying “We must make sure that substandard goods in the markets decrease. Governments should make sure that there are consequences and sanctions against any products or persons producing substandard products.”

Just as he expressed the readiness to train journalists in order to equip them with the requisite skills on International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).

The SON helmsman who made this known in Lagos pointedly said, the planned training is becoming important as it would help the media industry understand the benefits of ISO to the national economy in developing standards to ensure the quality, safety and efficiency of products, services and systems.

He noted that the essence of the workshop is to appreciate the media and their contribution to the progress of the agency and the country in general, adding that “We are also using this medium to interact  and discuss issues that bothers both the media and the standards body.”

On the level of seizures made so far, the SON boss added that its level of seizures has increased tremendously, maintaining that responses from stakeholders and market associations indicate that SON is winning the war against substandard goods.

“The stakeholders response is very good and recently we have studies where steel products quality has also increased very much as we get this information from contractors and dealers. We are getting very good responses from stakeholders and the markets about the quality of steel products and cables.”

He also reaffirmed SON’s commitment to strengthen its partnership with the media urging journalists to also act as vanguards in its fight against fake and substandard goods.