The Standards Organisations of Nigeria (SON) has reiterated its commitment to flush out uncertified products from Kwara Markets in 2020.
The state Coordinator of SON, Mrs Esther Okon, made the declaration on Thursday in Ilorin while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
According to her, more companies that have been hidden would be fished out to ensure that their products are certified for safe consumption.
“For 2020, we are looking forward to bringing in more companies because quite a lot of them have been hidden.
“Many of them do not want to be regulated; some even go into villages to hide. So we will try as much as possible to fish them out.
“This time around, we are even going to penalise them because ignorance can cause those things they are doing.
“We try to create awareness; we enlighten them and let them see the importance of it because they are going to put their products out for customers to buy, those consumers must get value for their money,” she said.
The coordinator pointed that the organisation would ensure that all consumers get deserved value for their purchases.
She asserted that SON was able to certify more products in Kwara for 2019 than previous years due to the cooperation and understanding of manufacturers.
“We were able to work with a lot of companies, even Small and Medium Scale Enterprises.
” We started with them in line with the directive of the Vice President and they are growing. We have been able to groom many of them on what standardisation is all about.
” For you to get to the top, the rudiment and foundation have to be laid very right.
“The manufacturers in Kwara comply a lot. They cooperate with us. They know the importance of standardization or what we call Nigeria Industrial Standards and they try as much as possible to key in.
“Over time, they know the importance of standardisation. They have many products certified for the year.
“We made them realise that you are not just being placed in Kwara, you compete with others from other states and even globally because when you meet up with the Nigeria industrial standards, the likelihood of your products being accepted outside the country is very high.
“Your product cannot be rejected once you are able to meet up with the minimum industrial standards and requirements in Nigeria,” she said.
She, however, stated that marketers of products would need to be enlightened in the new year to refrain from dealing in fake or adulterated products.
“We will go out, look for them (marketers) and bring them together to enlighten them because ignorance may be a problem.
“Very soon, we are going to have an enlightenment campaign and even a seminar for marketers because some of the time when we have cases of fake products, we trace it to marketers as well.
“So they should also be carried along. Nigerian manufacturers are trying their best as much as possible to ensure that they work with us.
” Sometimes , however, when their products are sent out, along the line, they get adulterated.
” What we try to do now is not just to work with the manufacturers, but marketers themselves, we bring them in, we educate them so that we see how we can move forward,” Okon said.
She urged product consumers to always look out for MANCAP or SONCAP logo before purchasing a product.
These logos, she said, was to distinguish certified products from others.
