The Standards Organisation of Nigeria is set to prosecute manufacturers and distributors of substandard steel products in the country.
This was revealed by the Chairman, Special Task Force, Standard Organisation of Nigeria, Enebi Onuchenyo, in a statement recently in Abuja.
Onuchenyo said the agency has been inundated with complaints from distributors over the poor quality of steel and iron rods in the country.
He said, “There are claims that there are substandard iron rods in the market. This was why we embarked on aggressive nationwide monitoring and got useful information, which helped us to track some of those behind this unscrupulous act.
“Two steel companies were found non-compliant with the requirements of the Nigeria Industrial Standards (NIS 117) and global best practices. The two were shut down, and their products were put on hold. After due diligence and investigation, the products were subject to tests, and they failed in some basic parameters.
“We moved swiftly to ensure the products found in the factory were cut to sizes and remelted under our watchful supervision. This will prevent the products from going into circulation.”
The chairman warned that any steel manufacturer caught circumventing quality assurance requirements henceforth would be prosecuted in line with the SON Act 14 of 2015.
He added, “We want to reiterate that compliance with quality and standards would guarantee local and international patronage of steel products manufactured in Nigeria.
“We advise steelmakers not to undermine one another through the production of substandard steel reinforcement bars using the name and code of rival firms and competitors”.
Such an act, according to him, was detrimental to the unsuspecting end-users of the products.
He reassured of the agency’s commitment to ensuring the safety of lives and properties of Nigerians, which he said largely informed SON’s recent nationwide monitoring of steel production.
Onuchenyo expressed concern over the non-compliance of key stakeholders in the iron and steel industry, maintaining that the agency would stop at nothing to bring sanity to Nigeria’s steel sector.
“Any players found producing without regard to NIS 117 will not be tolerated. The Federal Government has been working tirelessly to support local manufacturing for export in order to improve foreign exchange earnings, assuring manufacturers of SON’s diligence and doggedness to protect genuine local producers from unfair competition. Steps are underway to harmonise standards for steel production across West Africa, stressing that this would avail steel manufacturers the opportunity to produce and export to different countries within the region.”
He further urged steel manufacturers to imbibe the culture of self-regulation and monitoring, saying that it would help to prevent standards infractions.
“It has been done in other sectors, and this would go a long way in eliminating faking and the production of substandard steel products. It will also increase the collaboration among stakeholders and regulators, as well as increase the confidence of consumers. I urge you to be quality vanguards. If you see something unwholesome, say something to SON.
“Nigerians should report manufacturers found producing substandard products to the organisation. We have embarked on aggressive sensitisation to educate consumers on the basic parameters of steel products,” he concluded.
