SON Consolidates Efforts To Fight Import Of Fake Products
Yemisi Izuora
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has intensified partnership with other relevant overnment agencies to fight illicit trading that encourages influx of fake products.
The latest partnership is with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) aimed at check the influx of fake, sub-standard and prohibited products into the country.
At a meeting in Lagos today, the NCS Comptroller-General, Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd), said the collaborative understanding by the two government regulatory agencies was to ensure that sub-standard products would no longer find their way into the Nigerian markets by the end of 2015.
During a visit to SON’s Operations office, Lekki, Lagos, the Customs CG stated that there was need to strengthen the existing relationship between NCS and SON, in order to drive home the nation’s quest for economic growth and development.
The Comptroller General said his visit to SON office was to strengthen the synergy already existing between the two agencies, pointing out that SON has been one of the key government apparati for driving economic growth and development.
“We have always worked with SON. On the assumption of office, we identified key government parastatals that we must create synergies with for going forward. SON is one of those key government apparati that we must work closely with to ensure that what comes into the country meets minimum requirements of the Nigerian Industrial Standards (NIS),” the Customs boss stated.
“We are here to agree that henceforth, we will be working hand in hand in order to ensure that our jobs are made easier. I want to assure that this partnership is the beginning of something good for Nigeria. I am going to make Lagos my second place of abode in terms of office because 60 to 70 per cent of our operations are in Lagos. I want to assure you that I will continuously pay courtesy visits to you because I believe there are so many areas of collaborations between the two agencies,” the Customs helmsman deposed.
He stressed the need for effective collaboration among government agencies, while assuring SON that the NCS would deliberate on the way forward on strategic steps to tackle the vexed issue of the importation of substandard goods in the country.
“I want to state that our job as regulators is made easier if we collaborate. With regards to the issues you have raised, we will go back and discuss some of them and later get back to you. I am very sure that these are things one would consider looking at the prime factors that drive our job so that together we can make progress,” Ali told the Director General, SON.
“Our visit is also to look at issues that border on our collaboration so that we can itemize them and proffer solutions to surmount the challenges. The expertise to identify the standards of products is rested with SON”.
Earlier in his speech, the Director General, SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu announced that within six months, Nigerians should expect a drastic reduction of the level of substandard products in Nigeria, courtesy of the Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS) the agency launched recently.
Odumodu said collaboration with the Customs was very imperative, adding that without it SON’s operations will be limited, maintaining that the agency’s success was largely dependent on the level of collaboration with the NCS.
“We know that without the Customs, our job as SON is very limited. Our success is dependent to a very large extent on the level of collaboration we have with the NCS. I really must say that within the last three months, the level of collaboration with the Nigerian Customs has actually grown so rapidly that we are beginning to feel we can achieve a lot more in our enforcement activities,” he added.
Odumodu further asserted that, “I do not have any doubt in my mind that the current Comptroller General of Customs will succeed on his new appointment. The NCS holds the key to trade facilitation in Nigeria. With the kind of leadership we have now, it is only a matter of time before we start to see the fruits.”