SON’s DG re-organises internal structure, inspects factories for standard

IN order to put round peg in a round hole and to achieve its mandate of protecting Nigerians from harmful products in the country, the Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigerian (SON), Dr. Joseph Odumodu has embarked on internal structuring of the organisation and factory inspection, three months after resumption of office.

The internal restructuring was necessary for the organisation to meet its mandate of ensuring that the organisation achieves its target of improving quality of products manufactured and imported into the country.

The SON’s DG told The Guardian during his visit to one of the leading engineering companies in Nigeria, MIKANO International Ltd. that in order to put the right persons in the right position, a number of people were moved from one office to another, so as to increase confidence and ensure that workers’ competence match their job specifications.

He said, “I have decided to use my first three months in office to study and understand the level of activities that the SON has been on, to ensure that we deliver on our mandate. Having achieved this, I began with factory inspection with MIKANO International Ltd to ensure that the workers are protected.”

His visit to MIKANO, he noted, was part of the activities to ensure that good working atmosphere sways for the workers, adding that the company passed the first stage of the test, but will face his technical team to do the necessary technical examination.

Speaking on the local content, he said, “I can’t say for sure but I have been told that there are over 2000 Nigerian workers with MIKANO, which to me, is local content. I discovered also, that most of their products are imported, and with time, Nigerians, who work there, will begin to acquire the needed skills to develop theirs.

“This is a gradual process, he stated. “We have to start from somewhere. I saw a number of Nigerians as managers and the personal assistant to the chairman is also Nigerian,” Odomodu stated.

According to him, “these are the issues that are germane to the country. Indian nations started like this and today, they are manufacturers of products. Their products might not be as fashionable as the European and American’s made products, but they fare functional,” he said.

He explained, “in the place where I worked before, all the equipment in the factory were made in India and we got them for lesser prices than what we got from European and America market. So, SON’s visit to MIKANO is to ensure that the generators they import into the country pass the required standard for our country’s use.”

Having done this, he continued, “my people will come and do proper analysis to ensue that the noise, chemical emission and other things are in order. Our job is to protect consumers. If any company insists on doing the wrong thing, then we meet it force with force, but we encourage compliance.

“We need to encourage those, who invest in Nigeria economy because they have taken a number of unemployed youths off the labour market. There is a lot of development in this stage, but with time, we can now begin to ask, “are these Nigerians well remunerated or not.”

For now, MIKANO’s doing well in Nigeria require the company encouragement and patronage.

Reacting to the importation of substandard products in the country, he said, there are three intervention approaches, the first of which is ongoing training of about 300 intelligent agents to help track the issues that relate to smuggling of substandard products.

The next priority, he said, was getting the manufacturers, importers and exporters of these products to sign a bilateral agreement with the SON so that in case any substandard product is imported in Nigeria, the defaulter will bear the brunt of the action to compensate the masses for that.

“Also, we want to ensure that any product that comes into the country has a certificate of free use in the country of manufacture or importation. We are working with the Consumer Rights to achieve this at retail level,” he added.