Joseph Odumodu, SON DG

By Crusoe Osagie

The campaign on Zero Tolerance to substandard products in Nigeria has been commended as a major initiative of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), which, if well sustained, would reduce the level of import of substandard products in the country.

Head of the Taiwanese Trade Mission in Nigeria, Mr. Tim Yang, who visited Director General (DG) of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Dr. Joseph Odumodu hailed the agency’s efforts to sanitise the Nigerian market.

The SON boss, who was at the Trade Mission’s office as a result of the increasing number of Taiwanese companies seeking to export their products to Nigeria, solicited for the cooperation of the mission to assist SON in dealing with the issue of substandard products coming into   Nigeria.

The Director General decried the way some foreigners, with the connivance of their Nigerian cohorts, have turned the country into a dumping ground for all products, and expressed his dismay at the turn of events, wondering why this set of people do not see anything bad at what they were doing.

He told the Head of the Mission that since assumption of office as the Director General of the SON, he has put in place a lot of programmes and campaigns, one of which is the Zero Tolerance to substandard Products in Nigeria campaign, aimed at discouraging the import and patronage of fake and substandard products in the country.

Odumodu was particularly happy that so far, products from Taiwan had not posed serious challenges in terms of quality, but charged the Mission not to relent in its efforts, adding that Nigeria was one great nation that was well placed in Africa and world affairs; hence the need to work together to achieve and continuously sustain existing relations between Nigeria and Taiwan.

In his response Yang acknowledged the successes Odumodu had recorded so far within the short time he assumed office and urged him to keep up with the good work he was doing for Nigeria.

Yang praised Nigeria describing it as one great country that has been looked at in  very bad light because of the  stories told by  those who particularly have not visited Nigeria, and those who do not mean well for the country, adding that so far businesses  between Nigeria and Taiwan has been  cordial and urged the two countries to explore other areas that would further boost the investment opportunities  of both countries.

He promised to reach out to the business community including major manufacturers in Taiwan to avail them of the requirements of SON, and to further assist in facilitating meetings and round table discussions between Odumodu and the stakeholders any time he visits Taiwan.