The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has shut a fan manufacturing company over alleged misleading of Nigerians with forged tags and for failing to meet the regulatory standards.
The Director-General of SON, Mr Osita Aboloma, who spoke through Mr Bede Obayi, the Director, Inspectorate and Compliance Monitoring Unit, made the disclosure to newsmen in Lagos after raiding of the company.
According to him, the factory will remain shut until management of the factory registers, tests, properly label and gets approval to produce the product.
Aboloma said the company had claimed that the fan and its accessories were manufactured in China, whereas they were locally manufactured in Nigeria.
He said that the firm also forged the SON’s registration tag meant for imported goods on the fan and its accessories to deceive Nigerians.
“If you are producing something in Nigeria, you should be proud to put Made-in-Nigeria on it.
“What we are seeing here is made in China and again there is a SON registration number on the products.
“This number is only given to imported products; so you can see that the intention of the producer is to mislead people that the product is imported and SON is aware of it,” the director-general said.
Aboloma urged manufacturers to desist from the practice and know that it was compulsory to be under the Mandatory Products Registration (MPR) programme.
“When a product is registered with SON, it will have a unique MANCAP number.
“The MANCAP numbers on the items were outdated figures, because SON regularly change them to beat the manufacturers of fake products.
“The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) can attest to how SON is making it easier for local manufacturers.
“As it is, MAN is not even aware of this factory; that is an offence.
“We are suffering today of heat strokes and somebody is here producing fans that do not meet the standards or regulatory laws of the country,” he said.
Also, Mr Uchenna Ugah, the Managing Director of the factory located in Tedi Mowu Village, Abule-Osun area of Lagos, said that he was ready to do the right thing.
Ugah said that he started operations in October, 2016 and was not properly guided on what to do.
“I only thought that assembling the product here did not mean it was manufactured here.
“I was also in partnership with another company, which has the registration number on my product.
“I know better now and I promise to correct all with the support of SON,” he said.