SON DG, Mallam Farouk Salim (file photo)
‘Unscrupulous people bring a lot of things into the market; but we are very careful not to allow them’
By Valentine Amanze
The Director General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mallam Farouk Salim, has called for the amendment of the Act establishing the organisation.
Salim made the advocacy during a facility tour of Friesland Campina in Lagos on Thursday.
He also appealed to the industry stakeholders to support the ammendment of the act, stressing that it would further empower SON on fighting substandard goods and prosecution of offenders.
The director general also appealed to industries to minimize spending of their forex on laboratory test abroad, stressing, “when SON laboratories are supported to equip its laboratories, the job will be made easier.
Also read: Maintain high standards to ensure speedy growth of industries, SON advises manufacturers
“We are going round to see the industries to see how we can collaborate with them. To discuss with them to know what issues they have and to see how these issues can be ameliorated.
“Our worry is that industries are closing down and unemployment is escalating. Industry is suffering a lot of issues, ranging from insecurity, infrastructural decay, power problem among others.”
On his part, the Managing Director of of Friesland Campina, Ben Langat, said that industries face problems in the country’s business space.
He lamented that companies were shutting down due to high cost of raw materials and other challenges.
His words: “In the last one year, most companies in the food and beverage industry are unable to sell due to non-affordability of their products.
“Unscrupulous people bring a lot of things into the market; but we are very careful not to allow them. The best moment for counterfeit is a time like, when inflation is on the increase. Powder milk is very easy to counterfeit, so we are happy collaborating with SON to curb the problem. Our everporated paper packaged milk is 100 percent locally produced.”
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