SON spends N20m to destroy fake, sub-standard tyres

THE Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), said it has spent about N20 million in destroying more than three million fake and sub-standard tyres nationwide.The Director of Enforcement of SON, Louis Njoku, who made the disclosurein an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday, in Abuja, also noted that about two million fake and sub-standard tyres were still in the organisation's dump site.Njoku said that the organisation would not relent in its efforts to rid the country of fake and sub-standard goods, adding that ignorance of the law was not an excuse.According to him, SON has carried out series of awareness and enlightenment campaigns to market associations and manufacturers on the dangers inherent in the consumption and use of sub-standard goods.'Nigeria is a very peculiar place and it is very big and businessmen being what they are, want to make profit and when they do that, we are at the end there waiting for them.'Though I want to tell you that the manufacturing and importation of some sub-standard and fake goods like tyres are done ignorantly, while some are done with intention but I want to tell you that ignorance of the law is not an excuse.'And that is why we are making sure that wherever you are doing the wrong thing we will get to you. If you are importing and you think SON is out of the port, we are at the other end waiting for you,' Njoku said.The director said that SON'sofficials were at the borders, warehouses and markets, monitoring the quality of goods that come into the country on a daily bases, saying the organisation had signed series of MoU withmarket association as part of its efforts to check the influx of sub-standard goods.'We believe that self-regulation is very easy, we are facing a lot of challenges in our job, so what we are doing is working with the people on ground, the market association monitoring themselves, ensuring that those that are doing the right business still remain in business, while we take out the sub-standard and illegal products,' he said.He stated that the organisation had four days ago, raided Leaf Tobacco and Commodity Nigeria Limited, located at Gbakura in Kaduna State, confiscating1,149 'Peterfield' brand of cigarettes, valued at N25 million for non-compliance with standards.
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