Son Restates Commitment to Fight Against Substandard Products

Jonathan Eze
The Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Osita Aboloma, has stated that with the reinvigorated SON Act 2015, the standards body has the mandate to police the whole country to ensure that substandard goods do not find their way into the hands of unsuspecting Nigerian consumer.

The SON boss, who was represented by the Director, Enforcement and Compliance, Bede Obayi at an enforcement exercise to different warehouses in Lagos, urged importers to always consult SON for quality control guidelines before importing goods into the country. This he said will give their products certificate of free sales without unnecessary hindrances from different regulatory agencies

Aboloma said: We want to ensure that as people consume these products, it will be the same as those who are sending the products to us. We want to have a certificate of free sale that once we are consuming these products, we are sure the quality is same as to where the products are coming from. We want to let importers of these goods to know that Nigeria is supposed to be a safe country for all of us and so if you want to import any product, you must follow all the quality control guidelines set down by the SON.”

He added: “We have two policies which are the MANCAP for made-in-Nigeria products and the SONCAP for imported products. We want people to be sure whenever they are consuming these goods that they would not harm them while also getting value for the money spent on these products. SON is saying that there is no boundary in terms of the enforcement of this mandate, wherever we see these products, we would take them out and if you comply with our requirements, you will not experience any hindrance taking these products from the ports, borders into the markets, but when you do not follow the laid down rules, we will go into the warehouses to pick out these products.”

“This is why we are moving from warehouse to warehouse, markets to markets, roads to borders so that we will be sure that nobody leaves these points with substandard products into the country. Nigerians rely so much on the capacity of the SON officials who have been adequately trained to ensure that these products do not get into the markets. We have picked up some products and all of them would be properly assessed, we must find out how they came in, find out their quality characteristics by testing because our labs are now properly equipped. Wherever these products are found we would recall them and that is the essence of this enforcement exercise.”

According to him, quality is the same all over the world, stressing that SON is a member of ISO where standards are being developed in close collaborations with stakeholders from different sectors of the global economy network.
He assured importers and manufacturers of the agency’s commitment to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, therefore advising importers to desist from the illicit trade of substandard products.

LCCI to Celebrate Business Excellence with Awards
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) plans to honour excellence in business at its 2018 Commerce & Industry Awards slated to hold on Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at the Lagos Oriental Hotel, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Victoria Island, Lagos.

This year’s edition, which is the 5th in the series, promises to be an improved edition and hopes to attract major players in the various sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Director General of the LCCI, Muda Yusuf, said: “The objective of the annual awards is to recognise, celebrate and promote private and public institutions that have exhibited the core values of best business practices, growth through innovations, business sustainability and have positively impacted the society.”

He added that “the LCCI Commerce and Industry Awards pride itself as a credible platform where winners emerge through a painstaking selection process supported by robust research and market intelligence. Some of the awards categories to be won at the prestigious event include: Award for Excellence in sectors of the economy such as Banking, Insurance, Health Care, Manufacturing, Real Estate, Aviation, Pharmaceuticals, Education, Media among others.”

“The LCCI aims to celebrate deserving corporate organisations and public institutions that have made remarkable contribution to the development of commerce and industry, and the economy at large. Good corporate governance is also a major consideration in the evaluation of nominees for the award.” Yusuf added.

Ex-Banker Floats Ark of X Natives Kitchen
The Managing Director of Ark of X Natives, Ikenna Eze Uzoamaka, has said that there is the need to promote Nigerian foods and culture to the world, hence the creation of the Natives restaurant in Victoria Island, Lagos.
According to the trained Accountant, the Ark of X Natives is an eco- friendly community that brings its customers close to nature and a reminiscent of the beauty of African heritage.

Speaking on his passion for the country, Ikenna said: “My family stays in the United Kingdom and I have travelled around, I noticed that in Nigeria, we have good food but we don’t promote that much, you go to other places they make so much noise about their food, our mission is to take the best of Nigeria dishes to the rest of the world. We want to put Nigeria in the scheme of things, on the map. I travel around the country to get my cooking staff; if you go to my kitchen you will see different tribes.”

“In view of our name Natives and our vision to continuously take our dear customers unto a culinary and cultural journey back to their roots, we choose to promote some of the rich ancestral heritages of the four major ethnic and regional settlements in the country with major emphasis on some dishes, drinks, fashion and music peculiar to these tribes.

First weekend of the month is the Hausa/Fulani Day, second weekend is Yoruba day, third weekend is the Niger Delta Day and fourth weekend is the Igbo Day while fifth weekend is the Natives Variety Days”
“We don’t just sell food to people, we also promote culture. We don’t make scientific or over spiced dishes, all our condiments and spices are local like our Ogiri and Palm oil is gotten from the east and it is made to our specification, our tables and chairs were designed and supervised by me, as you can see, I used the normal Nigerian mat to make my roof, its high time we start producing things ourselves and let our money circulate amongst us, this was how China began.”