The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has given manufacturers and importers of steel products three months to evacuate fake and substandard steel products in the country.
In a statement, the agency acknowledged the vital importance of producing steel products that meets the requirements of the set standards, noting that steel products are key materials used in building bridges, houses and as such, must pass the quality threshold to safeguard lives and property.
The Director General, SON, Farouk Salim, at a stakeholders’ meeting recently, ordered steel companies and importers to recall substandard steel bars they have in the market before the expiration of the ultimatum stressing that Nigeria Industrial Standard (117) for steel products must be adhered to.
In his words: “We want to also warn any steel manufacturer caught circumventing quality assurance requirements. Henceforth defaulters will be prosecuted in line with the SON Act 14 of 2015. We are giving this warning because the life of every Nigeria is important, any product that will destroy lives and property is not worthy to be in the Nigerian market.”
He said the Federal Government has been working tirelessly to support and expand steel manufacturing export in order to improve foreign exchange earnings.
“We are assuring genuine manufacturers of SON’s resilience and doggedness to protect local production from unfair competition,” According to the SON boss, steps are underway to harmonize standards for steel production across West Africa, this will avail steel manufacturers the opportunity to produce and export to different countries within the region.
Director General, SON, Farouk Salim
“We urge manufacturers to imbibe the culture of self-regulation and monitoring, it will help to prevent standards infractions,” Salim added.
He stressed that SON invested in NMI was to increased capacity in furtherance of implementing the Federal Government’s directive to ensure that all axle load weighbridges are properly monitored and maintained throughout the country.
Recall that the Government through the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and its Transportation counterpart recently directed SON to commence calibration of all axle load weighbridges in Nigeria as part of measures to protect the roads from excessive loads by cargo trucks and trailers.
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