IT was long argued that no nation survived on imports but must engage in production. And so some Nigerians responded and established factories, especially in the Lagos area.

Today, the nation’s industrial sector is on the verge of collapse due to unbridled importation of substandard and fake products. Initially, foreign manufacturers wanted to dump wares which then were of comparative good quality but having succeeded in ruining local producers, they have the whole market to supply both quality and substandard items.

From across the world, goods that won’t sell in countries of origin are specially produced for Nigerian markets. Today, fuel products exclusively made for our markets abound. A few years ago, bad quality fuel in Nigeria could be smelt 20 metres away but Nigerians bore it!

Dr. Ikem Odumodu, the DG, SON, wants to turn round the agency. He wants to leave a name, an institution that Nigerians can depend on. A laudable goal but he has to rethink the entire SON project. Fortunately his background may have prepared him for the task – for we recall that he took May & Baker Nigeria Plc from a trading company to a major conglomerate.

Had he continued the tradition he met, May & Baker would not be the success story it is today. Therefore, once more, he has to break ranks with SON oligarchies. They are there: directors with decades of experiences who would like to tutor and guide him through real and imaginary mine fields!

SON was set up to give Nigerians quality standards beyond manufactured consumable goods: Nigerians need and expect nothing less than composite quality of life assured by the agency.

While SON is checking quality of building materials, for instance, Dr. Odumodu may hint to stakeholders that poor housing has direct bearing on the quality of life and productivity. A manufacturer who expects quality from workers who sleep and dream under inhuman roofs will get substandard products, his quality control systems notwithstanding.

A first-class pharmacist, Dr. Odumodu knows and must tell his principals that no element, nothing, gives what it does not have. Nigerians cannot produce or buy quality wares if the majority live subhuman existence. He must also beware of praise singers. The agency reducing substandard consumer goods prevalence from 85 to 60 percent within his one year in office is commendable.

To tell the truth, we need sector specifics from where the cumulative changes came – is it in vehicles’ parts where 80 per cent of tyres and batteries are substandard or the electronics products where 90 per cent of UPS are extension cables; is it in building and construction where nails are 80 per cent below standard?
I like story-telling but no telling tales!

Sometimes, my wife spends hours at the salon and expects my compliment afterwards but she gets shrugs instead. And that infuriates her!

The point is that my wife is beautiful by herself. I am all for grooming but to fix Brazilian, Mexican or whatever hair is not my idea of beauty. And some women fix nose, eyes, lips, breasts, nails and call it class, super standard!
Yes, beauty now comes in packs, as commodities. And where has it taken the glamour generations?  Substandard posing as super standard! Broken hearts! Shattered homes! Even untimely deaths!

Nigeria cannot buy quality standard anymore than a woman fixes beauty and hopes it lasts. If we really want high standards, we must begin to grow them locally, from ground upwards. Imported quality wares won’t give us the qualities our children will be proud to inherit and build upon.

Mr. JOE ANATUNE, a brand consultant, wrote from Lagos.