Ayeni Oyebola, the Kwara State coordinator of Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), has reinstated the commitment of the agency to ensuring that consumers get value for products they procure, just as he urged them to expose fake and substandard products in the market.
“We can’t continue to keep quiet and expect quality to be in place. Consumers should come up with complaints about products that they have purchased, and report to the relevant authorities for necessary actions so that Nigerians can be productive, enjoy quality products and healthcare; and our economy would be enhanced,” said Oyebola in an interview with BusinessDay in Ilorin.
According to him, the agency has been intensifying efforts at boosting consumers’ confidence in local and imported products by making such products meet Nigeria’s standards.
“Our concern is for Nigerians to enjoy products that offer value for their money. We are concerned about the issue of fake and the quality of products Nigerians enjoy.”
“When we hear that Nigerians have issues with the products they buy or consume, it is a major concern for us and our mandate is to ensure that global competitiveness is ensured.
Read also: Fidson declares 50kobo final dividend, bonus of 1 for 10
“We go out to ensure that manufacturers produce quality products and buyers equally consume good products. We have zero-tolerance for substandard producers.
“Confidence comes from the fact that you buy something and you want to buy again. So if Nigerians are losing the confidence in products they buy, it means that they are losing money and the country is losing its reputation and ability to compete in the global marketplace.
“Our goal is to make sure that we have that ease of doing business so that Nigerians can enjoy making products in Nigeria and they can also enjoy the products they have in this country. This is our concern, our task to enforce, to supervise and certify products and to make sure that products that we see in town are well verified.”
“The issue of adulterated products can never be overemphasised; so we make sure that we focus on it and so far so good, since I came in February, we have been doing a lot of surveillance, but I must confess to you that we have a major challenge of ignorance.
“Our people are still ignorant about quality specifications. If you want to buy bread, you have to know the kind of bread you want to buy. Manufacturers can write different kinds of information that is not valid but you will see lots of information on it.
“So it is the responsibility of Nigerians to verify what do I really want to buy; what kind of phone or smart TV do I want to buy. You cannot just buy any phone because everything you need has a specification so, you must make sure that what you want to buy meets the specification of what you have in the market or else you will not be satisfied,” said Oyebola.
He also advised Nigerians to always pay attention to what they buy by checking out for quality.
