Tayo Afolabi     |     

Sen. Sam Egwu, chairman of the committee on Industry, on Monday, has called for the return of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to the nation’s ports.

Making the call during an oversight function to SON’s offices and laboratories in Lagos, Egwu said the absence of the agency was greatly felt at the ports and called on stakeholders in the sector to begin facilitating its return.

He stressed that it was necessary for the agency to have first-hand information on goods berthing on the shores of Nigeria a large scale importing country before being allowed into the markets.

The Senate Committee chairman said, “We cannot overemphasise the issue of standardisation because it is the core for every manufacturing output. We are not happy that SON has not been allowed to operate at its maximum capacity especially with their presence being felt at the port.

“Nigeria is import-dependent, with porous borders and for them not to be at the port to inspect these goods first hand is not good enough. They should be allowed to be at the port to see these products before they enter into the market.

“We have observed some products come into the country from countries that do not have standards all cloned with SON logo. This is certainly not good for the Nigerian economy.

“The discovery by the SON deterred such goods from getting into the hands of unsuspecting consumers,” he said.

He commended operations of the agency in its fight to combat fake and substandard goods and restated the committee’s support.

The Director-General, SON, Osita Aboloma, told the committee that steady progress had been made over the years under the current leadership of the Senate committee on industry.

Members of the committee were taken to SON’s one-stop office in Apapa and its multi-billion laboratory complex in Ogba with about 38 laboratories.

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