By Franklin Alli

Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Joseph Odumodu, said Nigeria loses about N180 billion annually on substandard electrical bulbs imported into the country by some unscrupulous Nigerians and their foreign allies.

Odumodu made the disclosure, Monday, during an interactive forum with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), in Lagos.

“The energy saving bulbs that ought to last for one year does not last for three months, and we found out that Nigeria loses N500 million every day only on electrical bulbs. If you calculate that for one year we are looking at N180 billion,” he said.

The SON helmsman said that every sector of the economy is under siege from substandard products. “I have been to international markets in Lagos, Onitsha, Aba, Nnewi, Port Harcourt, etc.

Everywhere I go, I cry for Nigeria. We have created a system that is destroying us. Local products are not even competing with standard products but with substandard products. We have given jobs away from Nigeria to factories in Asian countries,” he said.

According to him, base-line studies recently carried out by the agency have shown that four out of five items in the market are substandard. These, he pointed out, ranges from electric bulbs to TV sets, electrical cables, extension wires, stabilizers, etc.

“These products are brought in by Nigerians in collaboration with foreigners. No stabilizers in the country meet Nigeria Industrial Standards (NIS), most of what we buy as stabilizers are extension cables,” he said.

“Since my appointment, I have been making wide consultation with members of organised Private Sector, traders at the Alaba International Market, the Auto Spare Parts and Machinery Dealers Association (ASPAMDA), etc. to support the agency’s renewed fight to curb the economy of substandard products.

“The message from SON is that stakeholders and consumers should to do the right thing. Nigerians should ask questions and reject substandard products,” he appealed.

Earlier, President of LCCI, Otunba Femi Deru, called for improve funding of SON by the Federal government so that the agency can effectively carry out its mandates of standards setting, monitoring, enlightenment and enforcement.

While commending the new leadership of SON for its renewed crusade against substandard products in the country, Deru noted that the agency is constrained by funds to ensure effective monitoring and enforcement of standards across the country.

“They are also constrained in the export and import certification systems due to inadequate testing capabilities and international accreditation.

In the light of this, I would like to appeal to the Federal Government to improve the funding of our two Standards agencies , namely, SON and NAFDAC. It would appear that the situation with SON is more critical.

The capacities of these agencies need to be improved for them to play the desired role of standards setting, monitoring, enlightenment, and enforcement,” he said.