A SYSTEM which community members prefer inferior values and products over others of superior quality; in which one’s own is looked down upon in preference to another’s, to artificiality and superficiality; in short, a practice which condemns the followers who are actually victims of their creation to self- depreciation is vanity and sure proof of emptiness: a substandard culture.

There is a saying that every child praises the mother’s cooking. It is frowned upon when a child not only rejects the mother’s cooking but prefers another woman’s that is not as good as the mother’s.

True, everyone is not born equal; some people seem to have been short-changed: they are born blind while some have just an eye.  But are such conditions enough for self-denunciation?

Inferiority as well superiority complexes come from within. They lie in the minds. Persons who go for inferior wares are not forced more by lower economic fortunes but mainly by poor mind and soul.

Some blind persons beg for a living while many not only fend for selves in dignity but support many able-bodied persons. Are we not witnesses to beggars with their two eyes and no bodily deformities and blind persons who employ top class managers and other skilled personnel to run their businesses?

Standard and substandard are from the mind and soul more than external circumstances. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. True, but this applies exclusively to persons who see a challenge as an opportunity, not an obstacle. Anyone who detests a challenge and seeks ways to by-pass rather than face it boldly never benefits from challenge and the danger is that he must live the low life all over.

The Federal Government set up the Standards Organisation of Nigeria in 1971 and some commentators have said that the failure of the agency over the years was in the nature of things; that the military lack high standards and therefore no moral strength to set up the body. The critics quoted the dubious cliché that says the worst democracy is better than the best dictatorship.

There are standards and there are standards; also standards of democracy or governance per se. A bad democracy is a fake despite the pretense of operators. As for the military establishing SON as well as that assumed reason why the agency failed to live up to its mandate is not supported by logic or history.

The point is that standards and standardisation go beyond merchandise, go beyond buying and selling, but reflect the true state of life of a people. Now, can a standards body give citizens a standard that the people and their government have not provided?

It must be near-impossible to set and ensure high standards in Nigeria with 70 percent of citizens living on less than one dollar a day. No! One hundred and fifty naira to feed, clothe, shelter, provide personal hygiene and other necessities, daily translates to substandard living, short and simple.

Substandard wares and ways of life exploded on Nigerians after the civil war in 1970. For one, Igbos and peoples of the South-East/Delta who survived the ravages were in haste to survive the peace. It would not make sense surviving a war only to die miserably in peace or would it?

In any case, basic necessities – water, food, clothing, medicines, housing and transport were in critical short supplies at the end of the war. Many survivors could not bother about quality: a semblance of availability sufficed and for anyone who wanted quality, 10 others were on queue who were not so minded but eager to snatch what was on offer and no questions asked.

In Lagos where vast numbers of returnees flooded, there were houses without window or door, without kitchen or toilet, with bare, rugged floors and falling walls.  Anyone in need of shelter sighed with relief to have something with five others in tow! And if you live in a sub-human abode, what won’t you do to survive or keep afloat?

Don’t think that Igbos are the main manufacturers and distributors of fake and or substandard goods and services in Nigeria. No, substandard became a way of life and thus a culture as both civilian and military regimes did not rise to national challenges.

The British, the Americans, the Japanese and major economies have recognised national standards made possible by their productive sectors and state surveillance agencies. In contrast, Nigeria has no comparative productive sector in the position to ensure best standards in the face of stiff and sometimes dubious operators.

Smuggling has been fingered the chief culprit in the substandard goods market but SON must dig deeper to unravel the view. In colonial times, you picked a bottle of Johnnie Walker brandy in an alley in Apapa or Lagos Island, in Sabon Gari, Kano or Ochanja, Onitsha, and it was as good as any picked from a Kingsway Stores.

The arrival of tokunbo vehicles, electronics and sundry wares has also been blamed for the flourishing substandard market in Nigeria but the view may not be supported by evidences. Many patrons of second hand wares say they know better; that they would rather buy second hand that is original than purchase a brand new product and it turns out to be fake or substandard.

Local manufacturers have suffered incalculable damages from the substandard merchandise. Breweries, electric bulbs makers and importers, tyre manufacturers/importers, even table water producers are in constant fear of being ruined by the fake and substandard goods merchants.

For a long time at the ports, racketeering was the rule. People imported wares and declared what pleased them and settled whoever must be settled. It was not uncommon to see electronic goods described as ‘baby toys’.

By the ‘80s, some Lebanese, Indians and some Nigerian traders ruined the markets and soon drove out former great trading names on the Marina, Lagos and elsewhere. Today, substandard and fake products have become entire industries of their own.

According to the SON, substandard consumer goods in Nigeria constituted 85 percent of merchandise a year ago although the agency claims to have brought the figure down to 60 percent.

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