Fake products in market now 40% – SON

Alice Ajakaye, Lagos

Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) said its has recorded a sharp fall in the level of substandard products in Nigeria, saying it has drop from 80percent to 40 percent.

SON, Director-General, Dr Joseph Odumodu, at a word press Conference titled “Made in Nigeria for the World, a transformation imperative, described the reduction as a major improvement on the fight against substandard goods in the country.

Odumodu recalls that when he assumed office four years ago, over 80 per cent of products in the market then were fake and sub-standard products, a development that left the Nigerian consumers very vulnerable, adding that over 90 per cent of those products were imported goods.

Odumodu noted that for the Nigerian brands to be able to compete effectively on the global stage, there was the need to adhere strictly to standards as specified by relevant regulatory authorities.

“At SON, we believe the way to go now is standardisation, especially when the oil fortunes in the global market has continued to drop. We need to ensure products that come out of here are of global standards, because there is nothing like local standards.

“We are introducing a product liability insurance scheme that would make producer of a product liable if anything goes wrong with the consumer while taking such product.

“For instance, it is unfortunate that there was no compensation of the parents of those babies that died as a result of the sub-standard drugs they took some time ago, since the company itself was shut down.

But this insurance scheme would enable consumers get compensation when such happens,” he added.

Odumodu noted that standardization should inculcated into Nigerian schools curriculum saying this would go a long way in ensuring standards in Nigeria.

He cited the South korea example, in which standards were taught to a group of students,while another group of students were not taught and at the end of the experiment student that were exposed to standards fared better by 30% in all they did than those that were not exposed to standards.