Despite the efforts of regulatory agencies in the country, fake and substandard products continue to find their way into the Nigerian market, writes David-Chyddy Eleke
Hardly would one find any product that is of high demand in the market that is not faked. Though there are agencies like the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and even the Nigerian Customs Service, who have the job of regulating what comes into the country, importers of fake products have continually managed to flood the market with fake products.
An importer of electrical materials in Onitsha, Chief Ethelbert Uzodinma in a chat recently with THISDAY said what was intriguing was that fellow importers choose a product that is of high demand, take it to China and demand for the same product to be produced for them at a reduced price, without minding the hazards of using them, just to cut cost and make more profit.
Uzodinma said, “We Nigerians are our own problems. These people take genuine products to manufacturers and ask them to water them down in quality, and the white man to whom they are making these explanations is thinking in his mind that these black people must be mad. They take time to outline the consequences of producing a substandard one, like this electric wire you see here (pointing to one of his products), if you use some of these fake ones they import into this country to wire your house, the likelihood is that there will be fire outbreak. The white man takes time to explain these things, but our brothers don’t mind, they just want the white man to produce according to the specification he has given them, just so he will make profits.”
Recently, officials of SC Johnson Limited, world known manufacturers of household products and members of the Nigerian Police Force supervised the destruction of two truckloads of Kiwi brand of shoe polish which were found to be fake. The goods which were intercepted on a tip off had been packed in a warehouse, awaiting distribution when they were mopped up. Two men; Hyginus Chukwuma and Uju Anike suspected to be owners of the fake products quickly dragged the Nigerian Police and Chief Sam Anyanwutaku, managing director of Asco Investment and sole distributor of Kiwi Polish in Nigeria to court over the seizure.
The recent destruction of the fake Kiwi polish was as a result of the judgment of Hon. Justice IU Ndigwe who had on December 4th entered judgment in the matter between Hyginus Chukwuma and Uju Anike as plaintiffs, against the police and the MD, Asco Investment, Chief Sam Anyanwutaku as respondents upholding an earlier agreement made out of court by the parties involved, for the destruction of the fake Kiwi polish. The execution of the court order which was carried out recently was supervised by the police in the presence of journalists and officials of SC Johnson, manufacturers of the Kiwi brand of polish.
The West African agent of the SC Johnson, Mr. Oghale Elueni told journalists during the destruction that the activities of fake products manufacturers were one of the bane of genuine manufacturers. He lamented that SC Johnson was in over 88 countries globally and had been in existence for over 200 years, making tested and certified products, but that it was only in Nigeria that the company mostly had the problem of fakes. He said, “The Kiwi polish we produce is not just to make your shoes shine, but to also protect it. But when you use these fake ones, they destroy your shoes and also tarnish the corporate image of our company and brands, and we will not sit back and let that happen,”
He blamed regulatory agencies, such as SON, saying the failure of the agency was the reason for the sales of fake products in Nigeria. He added that the organisation also frustrates the efforts of manufacturers by willingly refusing to act on complaints against fake product importers brought before them. “When you take a report to them, you find out that it takes as long as six months before they work on your complaints, at which time the importers of the product would have been alerted. SON is empowered to fish out and impound fake products, but they still do not live up to this. SC Johnson is in over 88 countries of the world and have been in existence for over 200 years. It is only in Nigeria that we have a problem of our products being faked.”
Chief Sam Anyanwutaku, sole distributor of Kiwi Shoe Polish in Nigeria estimated the worth of the destroyed products at over N30 million. Anyanwutaku, lamented that fake products were not only limited to polish, but stated that the failure of regulatory agencies to stop the importation of fake products into the country was killing the economy.
The state coordinator of SON in Anambra State, Engr. Nwaoma Olujie told THISDAY that the organisation has been working seriously to sensitise both importers and consumers of the hazards of importing or consuming fake and substandard goods. She said her organisation recently met with importers in a seminar where it harped on the dangers of bringing in fake products into the country.
In a one day seminar themed: Increased Awareness on Quality and Environmental Management System Standards, held in Awka, SON hammered on the harm of selling substandard products saying that besides posing harm to the living it also has harmful effect on the environment.
Olujie denied allegations that the organisation is usually sluggish with investigating complaints brought to them against importers of fake products. She said, “What do they mean by that? Are they saying that we usually leak the information to the importers of fake products or what? That is not true, because on our part, we have held sensitisation seminars and even raided markets of fake products, even around that Onitsha.”
The war against fake and substandard products may be on, but may not be yielding fruit yet as daily, consumers still buy fake and substandard products from the open market. Anyanwutaku said he was not surprised about the faking of Kiwi polish because the trend is so high in the market today, especially among products that are deemed to be of high quality and high in demand.
He lamented that what his company has been doing to rid the market of fake product should be the work of regulatory agencies, who seem to have lost focus. “My company spends a lot of money, including engaging people to move round the market to sniff out these importers. But that is not supposed to be our job if the regulatory agencies were doing their work. SON for example is empowered to stay at the ports and stop these fake products from coming in, but have they done it?”
A trader in Onitsha, Mr. Callistus Ezeuba told THISDAY that fake products are even more with eatables which are dangerous to health. “Go to Okpoko (a suburb in Onitsha), every shanty you see there, produces bottled drinks and water, and some of these things are harmful to the body, but people sell them out, without knowing if their relatives will fall victim.” For an average consumer, the joy would be a day when a product would be purchased, and its content would be assuredly, what was bargained for, and the likes of SON and NAFDAC are those consumers look up to for sanity.
