THE Director General of Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Farouk Salim, has said Nigeria cannot survive without standard products.
Speaking on Arise TV on Thursday, February 23, Salim said SON prevents substandard products from entering the Nigerian market.
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“Standard keeps industry open, it keeps people alive, it makes the whole business work. SON is also charged to check for the quality of products,” he added.
He explained that SON collaborates with regulatory bodies like the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to mitigate the number of substandard products in market.
According to him, the activities of SON has made companies to improve the quality of their products.
He added that the organisation has been able to introduce a healthy competition among manufacturers and producers of similar products locally and internationally.
“There are a lot of companies building products with the sole hope of coming into the Nigerian market and if our products are below standard, foreign products will be chosen over Nigerian products.”
He noted that some products labelled in foreign languages are substandard.
“We have seen products imported from foreign countries where they are labelled in foreign language but we are Nigerians, we speak English. No matter the quality of any product if it is labelled in Arabic or Chinese, it is below standard,” he said.
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