In  bid to justify its stay in the ports following the quit notice given to some government agencies, the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has said that more than 60% of containers in the ports do not go through inspection.

The affected agencies in  exactly four days  from today,  are expected to vacate the port premises..

Mostly affected are: National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control  (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National  Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Nigerian Environmental Standards Regulatory  and Enforcement Agency (NESREA), among others.

Already, the managing director, Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA), Engr Omar Suleiman has warned the affected agencies to comply with the presidential order or face forceful eviction.

Suleiman declared last week that at the expiration of the deadline, on October 24, all of them are expected to have vacated all the nation’s ports, even as he added that the Commissioner of Port Police command, Mr Hillary Opara and the NPA security department have been mandated to ensure full compliance with the directive.

“All necessary logistics required for the implementation shall be promptly made available by my office to the enforcement agencies’’. He assured

Engr Suleiman however advised the various heads of the concerned agencies to direct their personnel to leave the ports so as “to avoid embarrassment’’.

But, a few days after the presidential order, one of the affected agencies; Standards Organisation of Nigeria raised alarm that more than  60 per cent of the containers entering Nigerian ports are not inspected at the ports, rather, their owners hide under the Customs fast- track system to move the contains out of the ports.

The agency’s Director General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu told a gathering of businessmen at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCC) that recently a total of 50 containers of imported substandard products were destroyed by the agency.

“We are now issuing destruction certificates and all these are to make sure that sub-standard products do not find their way into the Nigerian market anymore,” he said, even as he insinuated that the fast-track system and the 48-hour cargo deliver deadline were opportunities for unscrupulous importers to circumvent the process of ensuring that substandard items are not imported into Nigeria.

Odumodu also added that in the last one month, more that 100 SON Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP) certificates have been faked.