By NAOMI UZOR
FOLLOWING the indiscriminate importation of oil lubricants resulting in cheap, poor quality and substandard products, as well as the unwholesome activities of producers of fake and adulterated lubricants in Nigerian market; the Chief Executive Officers of Oil Lubricant Manufacturing firms under the auspices of Lubricant Producers Association of Nigeria (LUPAN) is calling on the Federal Government and Standard Organisation of Nigeria to urgently take steps to protect the industry and safeguard millions of jobs across the country.

Arising from a meeting held in Lagos, recently, the Chief Executive Officers who said their lubricants are produced in strict compliance to regulatory standards locally (by SON and DPR) and internationally (by SAE, API & ACEA), believe that most lubricants imported into the country do not comply with these regulatory standards and that some of them actually import substandard lubricants and understandably, sells at cheaper price than genuine products. More worrying is the import duty tariff of 10 per cent which is the same for imported lubricants and for base oil which is the major raw material used by lubricant producers in Nigeria. This is surely not an incentive to encourage producers and keep them in business as well as keep millions of their employees in their employment.

In a statement signed by LUPAN Executive Secretary Mr Emeka Obidike C., the association is appealing to the federal government to as a matter of urgency review downwards to 5 per cent the import duty tariff on base oil which is the chief raw material that is used in producing their lubricants.

In the same breath, they seek a higher tariff regime for imported lubricants in order to protect local producers as well as remain competitive in the market. They also want the regulatory bodies SON and DPR to be more firm in terms of ensuring compliance to standards by these imported lubricants, in order to check the influx of poor quality and substandard lubricant and also to protect consumers.