From matches to corned beef, to electronics, to footwear and luggage goods, and vehicles; there’s the rumble of discontent. The fury is not directed only at imported goods, but also those produced locally by big companies.

A reader even expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of food being offered in bukas and restaurants, which he/she said is now so synthetic with all the foreign enhancers that most dishes taste like chemicals; with so much salt and strange smell.   

Well, it won’t be quite practical for us to have a supervising body which goes to sample the food sold in bukas and restaurants, for the ingredients and mode of cooking, but the government can have health officials go round to ensure good hygiene in these eateries.

Dumping ground

One thing is quite clear, in the responses we had; the quality of most things is going down, and the government has to take drastic steps to see that Nigeria does not continue to be the dumping ground for poor quality and hazardous products. 

A few readers expressed surprise that there’s a government agency which is supposed to ensure the quality of products. Amazing, isn’t it?  NAFDAC and its role in our lives has become well-known since Dora Akunyili became the head of this organisation, but the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, which should play similar role with regards to other products, is relatively unknown to the masses, it seems. 

What are the image-makers of this organisation doing, or does it mean that no work is being done there?

We should feel the impact of their work in the country. We should know where to go report bad quality products, so that manufacturers can be impressed upon to ensure good quality in their products.

We publish below, a few of the responses we got to the write-up and thank all those who found the time to write or send text messages to us.

“Ma, first of all, let me join you in rejoicing with that family that escaped a terrible fire outbreak, purely by divine intervention. One shudders to think what would have happened had the family been absent or asleep when the plug and cable caught fire and began to melt. It would have been catastrophic. Now, most electrical goods brought into this country, whether new or used, are fire hazards.

I know that ‘tokunbo” goods have enabled the poor to sample what only the rich used to enjoy; things like electric kettles, sandwich toasters, microwave ovens, irons, and other electronics, but have we considered the danger they pose to our safety?

A flat was burnt totally down because the electric kettle didn’t switch off when it had got to boiling point. A boy had plugged it in to boil water for drinking.   He had gone out; hoping the kettle would switch off automatically as usual when the water boiled.  It didn’t.

Used electrical goods shouldn’t be allowed into the country and S.O.N. should see that only good quality new ones are imported. Don’t they have a team of experts in various fields for this? They should. Thanks.” Michael, Enugu.

“Dear Sister Helen, thanks so much for drawing attention to the work of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, even though the write-up wasn’t so much about them as about the poor quality goods being sold in the country. Now, electrical goods are not the only bad quality goods that they shove on us anyhow; what about matches? In the good old days, you'd strike a match and it would ignite at once.

These days, both locally made and imported brands are nearly all of poor quality. You strike and strike and strike and nothing happens. The stick would break in the process and the surface for striking would wear out without igniting anything.

What about corned beef.? Even the preferred and popular South American brand, these days contain more fat than beef.  Tinned mackerel contains more watery tomato sauce than fish. You have shoes which soles fall off with just one wear. 

The list is endless. The government should really do something to save the masses from this rip off. If there’s indeed an organisation which should control the quality of goods, then, it should swing into action.” — Mrs. Chiedu.    .                                                  ....-

“Madam, this is my view - ‘Standard Organisation of Nigeria, don’t go to sleep, ‘watch and pray’ for the hour is come. As for foreign made cables and plugs, it’s my recommendation that manufacturers of melting cables and plugs should face death sentence by fire, to wake them from their slumber.”

“Ms. Helen, thanks for having the courage to urge SON to rise up to the challenge of monitoring products. Personally, when I see all the inferior quality products that flood our markets, even the so-called high-brow ones, I feel sorry for this country.

This is because such goods can never be accepted into the U.S. or many European countries.
Yes, our traders always say “this Taiwan or Chinese product get as e be’, but to be sincere, some of these foreign products can be of good quality, and their electrical goods can be safe to use, but that’s in the western world where they have stringent rules for what’s produced or imported. You can’t just send anything there.

There are specifications for products and manufacturers must meet them, or their goods won’t be allowed in. Our problem is that we don’t apply such a rule here, so these foreign manufacturers don’t have guidelines that they must abide by.

So, they send us the poor version of a product that they also market in western countries. In the U.S., you’d find that many goods and products come from all over the world, particularly the developing countries in Asia and South America; vehicles, fabrics, cosmetics, shoes, bags, etc.   

Some western companies commission their brand names to be produced in developing countries where labour is cheap. But these must be done according to the specifications they give, so that the standard doesn’t drop.  Nigeria is a large market for any good, so, we’re in a good position to enforce good quality. If we don’t complain and supervise, we’ll always get landed with poor quality goods.”  — Simon, Abuja.

"Madam, you haven’t seen anything yet. All sorts of goods are brought into the country with impunity, because those who should monitor them to ensure quality, fail to do this, or prefer not to do it, for reasons best known to them. What’s the use of having a standard organisation if it cannot control standard?

This can only happen in Nigeria. Even those goods brought in from Southern Africa that we used to be excited about when they first made their debut in this country, are of inferior quality when you take a close look.

Our problem is that we prefer to import than to manufacture because importing is of less hassle and is cheaper than producing, and you won’t have workers’ unions dictating salaries and terms of employment to you. Apart from being landed with poor quality products, does it occur to us that we’re helping to create jobs for other countries when we import their goods?

Government should encourage local industries, but these ones should also strive to produce good quality things. I see no reason why we can’t produce plugs and cables and other electronic goods in this country, and to western world’s standard.”— Rammy

“Aunty Helen, I’m not defending the lousy performance of PHCN, but one can now assume that the organisation is not responsible for 100% of electrical fire outbreak in this country. To think that cables and plugs that many of us see as harmless can actually be dangerous when they’re of poor quality!

After reading your write-up, I went round the house to check my extension cable and plugs. 1 found that most cables are limp to the touch, unlike the solid ones that we used to know.

All the posh-looking ones on the market now look weak, and they get easily hot when in use. Capped with a defective plug, fire could break out during power surge.

The cut-out they put there is no guarantee at all that there would be tripping when there’s a fault in the system. The SON should really test these electrical goods to ensure efficiency and safety. Thanks.”—Tumi

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