5 days ago
16
LAGOS – The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is set to diligently prosecute manufacturers and distributors of substandard steel products in the country.
This was the declaration of the Chairman, Special Task Force, SON, Mr. Enebi Onuchenyo, in a statement recently in Abuja.
Onuchenyo, said that the agency has been inundated with complaints from distributors over the poor quality of steel and iron rods in the country.
According to him: “There are claims that there are substandard iron rods in the market. This was why we embarked on aggressive nationwide monitoring and got useful information which helped us to track some of those behind this unscrupulous act”.
He continued: “Two steel companies were found non-compliant to the requirements of the Nigeria Industrial standards (NIS 117) and global best practices.
The two were shut down and their products were put on hold
“After due diligence and investigation the products were subject to test and they failed in some basic parameters.
“We move swiftly to ensure the products found in the factory were cut to sizes, remelted under our watchful supervision. This will prevent the products from going into circulation”, he said
Onuchenyo, warned that any steel manufacturer caught circumventing quality assurance requirements henceforth would be prosecuted in line with the SON Act 14 of 2015.
In his words: “We want to reiterate that compliance with quality and standards would guarantee local and international patronage of steel products manufactured in Nigeria.
We advise steel makers not to undermine one another through the production of substandard steel reinforcement bars using the name and code of rival firms and competitors”.
Such act, according to him, was detrimental to the unsuspecting end-users who would use the products.
He reassured of the agency’s commitment to ensuring the safety of lives and properties of Nigerians, which he said largely informed SON’s recent nationwide monitoring of steel production.
Onuchenyo, expressed concern over the non-compliance of key stakeholders in the iron and steel industry, maintaining that the agency would stop at nothing to bring sanity to Nigeria’s steel sector.
. “Any players found producing without regards to NIS 117 will not be tolerated.” he stressed.
Onuchenyo, said the federal government has been working tirelessly to support local manufacturing for export in order to improve foreign exchange earnings, assuring manufacturers of SON’s diligence and doggedness to protect genuine local producers from unfair competition.
He disclosed that steps were underway to harmonise standards for steel production across West Africa, stressing that this would avail steel manufacturers the opportunity to produce and export to different countries within the region.
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