By Lucy Ekpeyoung
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has confiscated fake electrical cables and wires worth N30.5 million in Ekiti State.
The incident happened during a raid in some major markets in the state after intelligence reports revealed that some of the vendors were dealing on substandard cables.
Expectedly, the SON taskforce sealed off some of the shops after confistication of the substandard items in truckloads.
Mr Pius Manji, Director, Inspectorate and Compliance Department, SON, told newsmen after the raid that the exercise was aimed at sanitising the markets of substandard cables and wires.
Mr Manji who was represented by Engr Joel Aboyeji, SON said the substandard items were evacuated to prevent them from going into circulation.
The unscrupulous importer even went as far cloning popular brands in an effort to deceive innocent members of the public.
Such development, he noted, could affect local manufacturers, investments in the sector and posed grave dangers to households most of which would be prone to fire outbreaks as a result of using the substandard products.
The SON, he stressed, would not relent in its mandate of ensuring that only quality products are allowed in the markets.
While noting that the confiscated cables and wires would be destroyed, he however assured the SON would not relent until it prosecuted electrical dealers who flood the markets with substandard products.
He said that SON’s enforcement team would continue to burst dubious importers and sellers dealing in substandard electrical materials, just as he warned dealers of electrical cables to desist from selling the products or risk continued seizure of the products by the regulatory agency.
Their action does not only sabotage and destroys local industries and our economy but also put the lives of Nigerians in danger.