SON suspends product, SONCAP certificates for revalidation

Moses Nosike
Standards Organisation of Nigeria has suspended all Product and SONCAP certificates issued under its off-shore conformity assessment program (SONCAP) and requested all importers issued with the imports clearance certificates to bring them forward for revalidation within 14 days.

A statement from the office of the Director General, Dr. John Akanya disclosed that the suspension was necessitated by the apprehension of another suspect involved in the forgery of Certificates under the SONCAP programme last week in Abuja following the smashing of a 3-man certificate forgery syndicate by the Police penultimate week.

According to the SON Director General, the suspect who is already being interrogated by the Police was apprehended through the vigilance of one of the banks which made an extra effort to re-verify the forged certificates, signatures and stamps of SON and its officials.

Dr. Akanya therefore appealed to Importers, Banks and the Programme Managers as well as all other stakeholders in the implementation of SONCAP to be extra vigilant and bear with the organization in its efforts to rid the system of saboteurs bent on destroying the Nation’s economy and the well being of its people.

According to him, SON in an effort to ensure greater transparency in the implementation of the program recently introduced an online security screening system to monitor the issuance of the Products and SONCAP Certificates worldwide and generate accurate data relating to importation of goods to Nigeria.

He commended the Nigerian Police for its consistent efforts in protecting the officials of SON in the discharge of their duties and particularly for its success in apprehending the syndicates involved in the SONCAP Certificate forgery which had in no small measure undermined the integrity of the program.