House Kicks against Exclusion of SON from Sea, Air Ports

 

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Industry, Hon. Dolapo Badru, has declared the directive that sent out the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) from the Nigerian sea and air ports as an act of illegality that must be reversed.

Badru made this declaration during an oversight function to SON laboratory in Ogba, Lagos State.

He argued that there was an enabling law that mandated SON to be present at the ports to check the influx of sub-standard products into Nigeria, adding that only a court of appropriate jurisdiction could say whether the law is right or not.

According to him, “No single person or institution can tell SON not to obey that law. It is only a court of competent jurisdiction that can do so. Therefore, a pronouncement cannot stop an agency charged with the responsibility of saving the lives of Nigerians from carrying out its statutory mandate. We will not encourage the import of sub-standard tires, drugs and other products that have been killing Nigerians daily by removing SON from the ports when there is a law that stated that it must be there to control the influx of these sub-standard products. This is a problem, and we must address it because we have had enough deaths.”

He also frowned at the situation whereby SON is invited occasionally at the ports to confirm the standards of some products coming into Nigeria.

The lawmaker asked: “How can SON be invited at random? You cannot invite people only when it pleases you, probably when the ‘negotiation’ is not right, then you call on SON to probably come and catch ‘your thief.’ That is how all these sub-standard products get to the streets and get people maimed or killed. Where did they pass through? Someone paid duty on them to bring them in. So who is fooling who?”

Badru also said his committee would sustain the agitation for the return of SON to the ports no matter what and how long it would take.

He declared that “if we need to change any law, we will do it just to make sure that we get the best. If it will also take a hearing to get this done, we are ready and will do it. But I do not think that it will get to that stage. But if it gets to that stage, we have to summon some people to explain why it should be so.

“The SON is doing a lot, and needs that everyone’s cooperation. So it needs to intensify its sensitisation campaign with the public which is the end user of these products.

He emphasised that the absence of SON at the ports, which was not due to its own volition but because they were not allowed to do their job, was the main reason sub-standard products are being dumped on Nigerians.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of SON, Mr. Osita Aboloma, has said the organisation would continue to put in its best to safeguard the lives of Nigerians through quality assurance and standards.

Aboloma said SON needed an enabling environment for effective service delivery do more.

“We want an enabling environment to do our work, and then hold us responsible. We need to be at the ports to nip this menace in the bud. That is my position,” he said.