Standards Organisation of Nigeria has described its destruction of fake Century brand of stabilizers and other items valued at N5.5 billion in 2014 as economic loss to the country.

The sub-standard products that penetrated into the country and were destroyed by the agency include electric armored cables, tyres, expired breakfast cereals, extension sockets, mini led flashlights, rechargeable lamps, shaving sticks, mobile phones, engine oil, ball pens, among others.

In a review of its destruction exercise for the year at the Sagamu dumpsite in Ogun state, the agency disclosed that it destroyed over N5.5 billion worth of substandard goods from January till-date.

“These goods were destroyed to save the lives of Nigerians who are not aware of the harmful effect of these products. So many people have lost their loved ones by consuming these substandard products,” said Engr. Bede Obayi, Head of Inspectorate / Compliance.

According to him, in spite of the hazards associated with the distribution, purchase and use of substandard products, including loss of lives and properties as well as economic sabotage among others, importers still engage in the illicit trade.

He explained that the products were burnt in accordance with SON’s procedure which started with market survey, surveillance, inventory, seizure, sampling, laboratory tests and analyses to ascertain conformity to specifications and requirements of Nigeria Industrial Standards (NIS).

“The stabilizers and electric cables failed critical parameters in the Nigeria Industrial Standard like conductor resistance; elongation, tensile strength and diameter of insulation as well as not having country of origin embossed on them for traceability.

“The tyres are all used and mostly expired while; the supermarket items have expired well before the dates of our market survey between January and February 2014 and were still kept on the shelves for sale to unsuspecting consumers.

“Some of them are wrongly labeled; some have no country of origin while some like vegetable oil were already leaking on the supermarket shelves. The LPG cylinders were not carrying embossment of brand name, address of manufacturer and country of origin for traceability.

“Most of the products were seized from various ports and border and some were smuggled items seized in some states. We have told importers times without number that, importers should approach the SON to get the right standards for the products they are bringing into this country so that when they come in, we will not in any way tamper with their goods but ensure easy access into their warehouses,” he said.

On SON’s outlook for 2015, he said “We want to work to surpass our target of reducing the penetration of the substandard products into our country. We have declared 2015 as a year of war against substandard goods.”