Bennett Oghifo
Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has closed13 steel factories across the nation for violating standards.
Chairman of the SON Task Force on Steel, Mr. Enebi Onucheyo, stated this in Lagos yesterday.
Onucheyo said the companies located in Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Abia and Edo states were found culpable, following a nationwide market surveillance carried out by the SON Task Force between November 2019 and January 2020.
Samples of various steel products were obtained from the open market as well as from the facilities of the companies during the surveillance period, he said.
SON, he said, classified steel bars as life-endangering products and that Nigeria Industrial Standards provides for unique identification marks for every locally manufactured or imported steel bar for easy traceability.
He said: “Laboratory tests and analysis carried out on the samples revealed that most of them failed to meet the minimum requirements for diameter and mass per meter as provided in Nigeria Industrial Standard (NIS 117:2004).
“These are critical parameters in the standard for reinforcement bars for concrete.”
Enebi said SON had warned all companies manufacturing steel to ensure strict compliance with the requirements of the NIS 117:2004.
He stated that some of the companies were found to have tampered with products in their facilities that SON had placed on hold, adding that an unregistered identification mark “GE” was discovered on one of the products sampled.
According to him, the exercise would continue “in furtherance of the SON commitment to protect Nigerian consumers from the dangers associated with substandard and life-endangering products in view of the incessant collapse of buildings and structures across the country.”
Enebi said the exercise was also aimed at ensuring that Nigerian consumers get optimum value for their hard earned money.
Also, SON Director General, Mr. Osita Aboloma, reiterated the need to promote quality made-in-Nigeria products, preparatory to the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
Aboloma explained that strict enforcement of conformity to the requirements of Nigeria Industrial Standards would facilitate export, and prevent dumping of fake products into the Nigerian market.
