Every country has its own challenges with substandard goods and products, whether manufactured locally or imported, but Nigeria’s case is higher than normal.Daily Sun investigation revealed that Nigeria loses about N50 billion annually to importation of fake and substandard products.The preponderance of fake products in almost all spheres of human activity in the country is alarming. A significant percentage of these counterfeit products are targeted at the Nigerian market, thus making it one of the world’s largest markets for fake and substandard products.The counterfeit business is also huge in the technology sector, generating huge income for the perpetrators at the expense of the consumers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the national economy. For instance, billions of naira is spent annually for the importation of counterfeit mobile phones and pirated computer software. Pirated books, music and films, powered by Chinese technology, are readily available in the Nigerian market.From computer and ICT products, building materials, machinery, cars and spare parts, handkerchiefs, towels, to keys and padlocks, fake products flood the market daily and they are mostly from China and Asia. The Asian Tigers are here but more with substandard and economically wasteful products.The government body responsible for designation, establishment, approval and declaration of standards in respect of materials, commodities, structures and processes, certification of products in commerce and industry, their promotion at national, regional and international levels, throughout Nigeria, and the enforcement of same is the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON). Their mandate is enormous, the challenge is gargantuan, they are restless, committed, doing their best but the influx of fake products continues without abating.Only last month, the Acting Director General Director of SON, Dr. Paul Angya, disclosed to Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) at a capacity building programme organised by SON, the organisation’s readiness to enforce standards.He said today, for almost all items in the market, there are original and fake products displayed side by side with impunity, and the buyer decides, depending on his purse.But the worrisome aspect is that the crooks are thriving too much in this business, he noted, stating that some of them import substandard products from China, and paste the name and logo of standard and popular brands on them and sell.“Others even open up products like television sets, change the internal components and sell. This is where all genuine companies exporting to sell in Nigeria need to collaborate with the SON Conformity and Assessment Programme (SONCAP). Established since 1971, SON has changed and is actively involved in inspection of goods and quality assessment at the ports and borders of Nigeria, considering the economic and health/safety implications of influx of substandard goods into the country. But fake products are everywhere,” Angya said.The question then is, why is the impact of SON so little felt by the people? The many problems of importers drive them into cutting corners to make some profit.First, they pay import duty, NAFDAC fees, SON dues, shipping agent fees, clearing and forwarding fees, wharfinger, wharfage, stevedoring conservancy dues, animal and plant quarantine dues, and many more, before the containerised goods leave the seaport. If any of these government officials or departments is not pleased, he simply raises an issue against the importer to the Customs, which elicits some enforcement action against the man. At the end of the day, he settles, with more cost, and he sells at a loss. Next time, he asks the exporter to reduce specification and quality in order to recoup his losses on the earlier consignment, and it subsequently becomes a habit.Second, where the officers in charge of a particular section in the ports’ clearance process come predominantly from one ethnic group, they use their position to promote the interest of importers from that group and punish or put importers from other or perceived rival ethnic groups at a disadvantage. The net effect is that the disadvantaged importer struggles to also make some profit by importing poor quality products. Greed, corruption and ethnic manipulations have played together at the seaports to land substandard products in Nigeria, complicating the challenges of SON.In addition, with Nigeria as a dumping ground for all sorts, due to absence of government encouragement for production and manufacturing, many want to import from China, the known centre for fake, cheap and substandard products.They all find patronage for the questionable products they import because of our huge population and continuously depreciating naira purchasing power.The market for fake products has become large because the majority cannot afford the high cost of the original standard quality products. Fourth, the Lagos seaports have been so balkanised among the ruling class and their cronies in what they called concessioning, which has made the place look like a mad house.Any conscientious citizen who used to visit the Lagos seaports of Tin Can and Apapa in the early 1980s to 1990s, will shed tears for this country over what presently obtains there. The ports have become the shame of their past glory.The work of SON needs to be known by all and sundry through more education, more campaign, more information to the consuming public. The cooperation between SON and the consumer protection agencies need to be enhanced in the interest of the people. SON on its part cannot continue to treat symptoms by destroying the importers’ goods alone, which only impoverish Nigerians. The battle must now be carried beyond our borders to China and Asia.
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Every country has its own challenges with substandard goods and products, whether manufactured locally or imported, but Nigeria’s case is higher than normal.Daily Sun investigation revealed that Nigeria loses about N50 billion annually to importation of fake and substandard products.The preponderance of fake products in almost all spheres of human activity in the country is alarming. A significant percentage of these counterfeit products are targeted at the Nigerian market, thus making it one of the world’s largest markets for fake and substandard products.The counterfeit business is also huge in the technology sector, generating huge income for the perpetrators at the expense of the consumers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the national economy. For instance, billions of naira is spent annually for the importation of counterfeit mobile phones and pirated computer software. Pirated books, music and films, powered by Chinese technology, are readily available in the Nigerian market.From computer and ICT products, building materials, machinery, cars and spare parts, handkerchiefs, towels, to keys and padlocks, fake products flood the market daily and they are mostly from China and Asia. The Asian Tigers are here but more with substandard and economically wasteful products.The government body responsible for designation, establishment, approval and declaration of standards in respect of materials, commodities, structures and processes, certification of products in commerce and industry, their promotion at national, regional and international levels, throughout Nigeria, and the enforcement of same is the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON). Their mandate is enormous, the challenge is gargantuan, they are restless, committed, doing their best but the influx of fake products continues without abating.Only last month, the Acting Director General Director of SON, Dr. Paul Angya, disclosed to Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) at a capacity building programme organised by SON, the organisation’s readiness to enforce standards.He said today, for almost all items in the market, there are original and fake products displayed side by side with impunity, and the buyer decides, depending on his purse.But the worrisome aspect is that the crooks are thriving too much in this business, he noted, stating that some of them import substandard products from China, and paste the name and logo of standard and popular brands on them and sell.“Others even open up products like television sets, change the internal components and sell. This is where all genuine companies exporting to sell in Nigeria need to collaborate with the SON Conformity and Assessment Programme (SONCAP). Established since 1971, SON has changed and is actively involved in inspection of goods and quality assessment at the ports and borders of Nigeria, considering the economic and health/safety implications of influx of substandard goods into the country. But fake products are everywhere,” Angya said.The question then is, why is the impact of SON so little felt by the people? The many problems of importers drive them into cutting corners to make some profit.First, they pay import duty, NAFDAC fees, SON dues, shipping agent fees, clearing and forwarding fees, wharfinger, wharfage, stevedoring conservancy dues, animal and plant quarantine dues, and many more, before the containerised goods leave the seaport. If any of these government officials or departments is not pleased, he simply raises an issue against the importer to the Customs, which elicits some enforcement action against the man. At the end of the day, he settles, with more cost, and he sells at a loss. Next time, he asks the exporter to reduce specification and quality in order to recoup his losses on the earlier consignment, and it subsequently becomes a habit.Second, where the officers in charge of a particular section in the ports’ clearance process come predominantly from one ethnic group, they use their position to promote the interest of importers from that group and punish or put importers from other or perceived rival ethnic groups at a disadvantage. The net effect is that the disadvantaged importer struggles to also make some profit by importing poor quality products. Greed, corruption and ethnic manipulations have played together at the seaports to land substandard products in Nigeria, complicating the challenges of SON.In addition, with Nigeria as a dumping ground for all sorts, due to absence of government encouragement for production and manufacturing, many want to import from China, the known centre for fake, cheap and substandard products.They all find patronage for the questionable products they import because of our huge population and continuously depreciating naira purchasing power.The market for fake products has become large because the majority cannot afford the high cost of the original standard quality products. Fourth, the Lagos seaports have been so balkanised among the ruling class and their cronies in what they called concessioning, which has made the place look like a mad house.Any conscientious citizen who used to visit the Lagos seaports of Tin Can and Apapa in the early 1980s to 1990s, will shed tears for this country over what presently obtains there. The ports have become the shame of their past glory.The work of SON needs to be known by all and sundry through more education, more campaign, more information to the consuming public. The cooperation between SON and the consumer protection agencies need to be enhanced in the interest of the people. SON on its part cannot continue to treat symptoms by destroying the importers’ goods alone, which only impoverish Nigerians. The battle must now be carried beyond our borders to China and Asia.
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