By Fabian Anawo
The Standard Organization of Nigeria,
SON has canvassed life jail for dealers in life-threatening materials instead of the fines that courts are giving to such people.
The organization is therefore pushing for the review of the law that establishes it so that such people could get jail terms
The immediate past Director General of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, told journalists at the destruction of materials seized by the organization that such people were economic saboteurs and did not deserve light punishments.
According to him, “This is one of the reasons why, in the last National Assembly, we went to them to review our Act to make sure that peddlers of life-threatening materials are jailed, not just fined.
“Thankfully, they have passed the law, but unfortunately, when the government was settling down, they did not get the opportunity for the President to sign the law.
“So it is back in the National Assembly for concurrence, and hopefully very soon it will be with the President, and I am sure Mr. President will sign that amendment, and those individuals selling threatening items will be jailed immediately they are caught,” he said.
The SON’s former boss also said that the organization has gotten court orders for the destruction of some of the products. He said that some of the seized tyres were new, but unfortunately, when the importer brought them in, other tyres were stuffed inside them.
“Due to this, these tyres lose their integrity and become dangerous to society. The ones looking new are used tyres, they are pressed and polished to look new.
“The fakers of the motor oil lubricants intercepted in Calabar use popular products, so our Nigerian lubricant manufacturers that are successful have to contend with the individuals trying to copy their product.
“Nobody copies a product that is not successful; the only problem is that the copying is a bad one.
Salim pointed out that the Nigerian cable manufacturers have formed associations to help identify fake products, and SON is collaborating with the associations.
He noted that SON sometimes used the association’s intelligence to fish out fakers whose activities were affecting the economy of the country.
“Due to the policy on local content, we need to make sure that our indigenous companies are protected.
“These cables are supposed to be copper, but they are either iron or copper-coated. When used in a building, they get hot, which leads to fire,” he said.
“To your eyes, these products don’t look nice, but an unscrupulous person can take them, clean them up, send them to the market, and make billions of naira from them.
“As regards this environment, the seized items are safe here as the place is twenty-four hours monitored by police and civil defense,” he added.