Following the increase in the importation of substandard products into the country, the Senate Committee on Industries has vowed to ensure that the organisation return to the nation’s seaports to checkmate the menace.
The committee said standard’s regulatory bodies were always at the ports to certify quality of goods before entering the country, adding that Nigeria cannot be an exception.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Industries, Senator Bayo Osinowo, stated this during an oversight function of SON’s laboratory complex in Ogba, Lagos, recently.
Osinowo said that the Senate would ensure SON performs its statutory role by being present at the ports to monitor standard of products being imported into the country.
“It is unfortunate that SON is not at the ports. When we established SON, it was to monitor all standards of products produced and imported into the country.
“When we found out that SON was not at the ports, we decided to address this by looking into it and amending it because there must be an office for them at the ports to carry out their mandate effectively”, he said.
Reacting, Director-General of SON, Osita Aboloma, assured that the agency would function effectively and meet up with the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) if supported in ways needed by the government.
“Positioning SON to be ready to break barriers to trade has been quite tasking and this is why it is required for us to have laboratories to carry out tests of conformity agreed upon by continental bodies.
“Quality assurance is a collective effort because we cannot do it alone. We seek the partnership and cooperation of all Nigerians”, he said.