In its renewed efforts at stamping out substandard goods from the Nigerian market, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has improved its drive to partner with local industries.
Speaking during a fact-finding mission and facility tour of BestAf Trading Company Limited, a subsidiary of MRS in Lagos, the Director General, SON, Farouk Salim, stated that there is a necessity for higher-level partnership with local industries to wage war against dealers of substandard goods.
Salim regretted that these substandard goods have adversely affected the Nigerian local industries’ competitiveness and profitability.
He reiterated that SON is looking forward to a much stronger partnership with local industries in its fight to rid Nigeria of unwholesome goods with no economic value.
According to him, “As partners, we will help you succeed and we are not ashamed to say we are partners in the industry. We cannot stop imports because of international laws, but we will protect our local industries from unfair competition. So while we ask this industry to continue collaborating with us at a higher level, share intelligence with us, point out those people who tried to destroy businesses, we will do the rest,” he assured.
“Any industry that survives in the current climate we are going through should be applauded, helped and now we are here to work with our partners to see where we can collaborate, where you can collaborate with us where we can help you where you can help us,” he said.
He commended BestAf for its efforts at ensuring safety and quality, stating that he is impressed with the level of work done in the company’s state-of-the-art facility.
“I am impressed with the work that is done and the capacity it has. What is impressive is that they are making capacity for many years to come. The machines are excellent, the individuals here are trained in specialised skills and their products are excellent, world-class. So there is no reason why we should not cooperate together with the industry to enforce and protect our products here,” he stressed.
Managing Director, BestAf Trading Company Limited, Andreas Wielsch, commended the agency’s effort to combat fake and substandard goods in the country, while also acknowledging SON’s strides in protecting local industries.
“We want to say a big thank you for your visit and we are trying to do our best to ensure that we support your quest to protect local industries and create wealth for the country. We are ready to work with you in this fight against fake and substandard products,” he noted.
Also speaking, the Executive Director, BestAf Holding Limited, Joseph Ogbu, said the company recently bagged its ISO 9001 certification handled by SON.
According to him, “We are also doing other quality management systems certification in the future and since the first one came up to be fine, we believe that we will try and use this to get others. We are very happy with the services offered by SON and as I said, in the beginning, there is a lot of room for collaboration. We have a lot of substandard products within the country, but we are fully equipped to able to determine the product quality courtesy of our state-of-the-art laboratories. We will work with SON to see how far we can go together so that we can put Nigeria on the roadmap of quality.”
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