Determined to sustain the current tempo on unwholesome products across the country, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has evacuated substandard tyres from a warehouse located in a remote area in Ogun State.
Recall that the standards body recently stated that purveyors were devising new methods by taking advantage of the vast nature of the country to warehouse substandard goods in remote areas.
The Director General, SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, who was represented by the Director, Inspectorate and Compliance, SON, Mike Dakhing, said the evacuation exercise of the seized stuffed-in tyre of 200 containers in Obafemi Owode Local Government, Ogun State was to ensure that the tyres do not find their ways into the nation’s market.
He stressed that products have been tested and they all failed the critical parameters as a result of stuffing.
A statement quoted him to have said: “You may recall that few weeks ago, the Director General, Mallam Farouk blew open to the whole world the nefarious activities going on in this community and as you know he opposes fake and substandard products and any unwholesome activity that will encourage it because that is the mandate he has been given.
“Today we are here to evacuate these tyres which is the first stage in their destruction. It will interest you that we obtained the laboratory results after testing these tyres which they all failed. In our warehouse, we will await the necessary legal procedures that will enable us to destroy them.”
According to the SON top official, the evacuation and destruction would cost the agency much money, adding that the agency has been perfecting an act that would ensure the substandard products importer bear the cost
Reacting to a question on why the tyres were classified as substandard, he stated that the act of stuffing them into one another have rendered the tyres dead on arrival into the country.
He stated: “The act of stuffing them into one another and instead of bringing in the tyres into different containers, the purveyors of these tyres stuff into one another.
“For example, if they are to bring 300 tyres in one container, they will now have the opportunity to bring in 1500 tyres and in doing that, this compromises the quality of the tyres and as you know the tyres are made of wires and carbon and the test reviewed that the textile strength of the tyres have been compromised so they are no more fit for use and this is why we are going to destroy them. They may look nice in the eyes, but we rely on scientific investigation and analysis.”
He assured that the agency would prosecute the unscrupulous importers of the tyres, stating that SON has a law that specify the right type of punishments to be meted on dealers of fake and substandard products in the country.
“We have a law that specifies what punishment would melt to purveyors of this kind of illicit trade and we would go by that law, so after destroying these tyres, we will subject these unscrupulous importers to the provisions of the law,” he said.
He called on Nigerians to always support the agency by giving relevant information should they suspect any form of dubious activity in their locality, maintaining that SON cannot be everywhere to checkmate the preponderance of these products with no economic value.
