By Ikenna Omeje
The Chief Operating Officer of Miccom Cables, Olubukola Adubi has lauded the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA) over their recently announced collaboration to stamp out counterfeiting and peddling of substandard products from the market.
She said this whilst speaking at a courtesy visit of Miccom to SON in Lagos. Earlier during a meeting between the leadership of LASCOPA and SON, the General Manager, LASCOPA, Afolabi Solebo outlined ways in which the agency and SON could collaborate on knowledge sharing and capacity building and ensure that consumers are protected, while the DG of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, stated that SON could provide technical services that will help LASCOPA be more efficient cost-wise and effective, as reported by TV Continental.
Solebo stated during his address, “In the course of our duties, we can refer cases that we believe have to do with standards to the SON as other agencies do for us so that issues like that can be resolved amicably because you know much more about the standards. Our duty is to ensure that those products, even when they are brought to the public for sale and are defective, know where to go if they have passed the requirements of SON. Another issue we will be talking about is the issue of trade.
“For us at LASCOPA and for any sellers’ organisation, we really want to identify with SON as regards the quality check so that when we are well trained, we know those that are well of standard and sub-standard. Also, we will be talking about the certification of products in the Lagos market and how much can be gotten rid of through the SON. SON is about standardisation and LASCOPA has participated in some technical committees and we will like more of it to occur,” he added.
Farouk Salim, the Director-General of SON on his part, said, “If you can get things done in Lagos, then you have taken care of 50% of those issues around the country because all the products that go around the country come from and through Lagos. We are of the great opinion that we need a robust operation with both the state governments and the federal. Here, we have about 35 laboratories that are internationally accredited. Some of the things LASCOPA is trying to do can easily be done here at a subsidised fee through understanding and agreement.”
The two agencies agreed to work on a Memorandum of Understanding to broaden their efforts and make the partnership official.
Adubi lamented the state of sub-standardisation and adulteration of products. She said that during some of the company’s investigations into the market, it was discovered that some suppliers deliberately reduce the quality or quantity of products making them sub-standard. “Take copper for example. It is not a metal but an alloy and then the gauges that have to come with them are not up to par. You have issues with the length like a 100 yards sold as 100 metres. If you don’t know the difference and it has already been packaged, then you have been fleeced unknowingly,” she explained.
She also said that some nefarious individuals produce adulterated products where they slap the labels of local manufacturers illegitimately. “Then there is the issue of the adulterated goods which are ones that have been misrepresented to the public as being produced by a local manufacturer but are not. Sometimes, some use the exact name while others use a similar name that sounds nearly or exactly like the original,” she added.
Adubi commended the efforts of both state and federal regulators on their recently announced collaboration and warned market operators who sell sub-standard products and adulterated ones that the partnership between LASCOPA and SON would hit them hard. She said it was a welcome development that will further assist.
