By Adewale Sanyaolu
The Cable Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CAMAN) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria(SON) have forged ties to tackle several infractions in the cable industry.
President of CAMAN, Mrs.Bukola Adubi, stated this at a dialogue session which held at the SON Laboratory Complex in Ogba, Lagos at the weekend
Some of the industry concerns raised by Adubi included; discrepancies in certification of cable sizes, presence of substandard cables in the market, and provision for approved 3rd party certification of cables by SON
Adubi, who is also the Chief Operating Officer of MicCom Cables, informed SON that there are some so called manufacturers of cables in the country who claim to have SON certifications, but have been found not to have testing laboratory wondering how they could have acquired the certifications illegally.
Adubi also alleged that some importers bring in substandard products and label them with the names of some of its members, thereby misrepresenting them.
This illegal act by some unscrupulous importers, according to her, has led to some of their members being blacklisted by companies, even though the products originally did not come from their factories.
Speaking to the media after the dialogue, Adubi expressed happiness on the outcome of the meeting.
She said that the dialogue afforded her the opportunity to present some of the challenges confronting cable manufacturing companies to SON, adding that she was delighted to discover some steps SON had already taken to help cable manufacturers in their operations.
“This is good for us – to know that we’re on the right side and on the right team and that we are in this together. So it is obvious to see that there’s great hope, there’s plenty of opportunities. We can fight this menace together. Substandard cables, adulterated cables have no part to play anymore, because we’re all going to fight this menace raving the industry to the end,” Adubi said.
She admonished those producing fake and substandard cables to shape up or leave the industry.
“The people manufacturing and providing the fake and adulterated cables should be wary to know that people are coming after them. So it’s either they sit up and shape up or ship out. We’re not going to allow it any longer. Our legacies will not allow it to stand. I’m happy we’ve the support of SON and the support of the DG particularly. Give another six months, I am sure the story will be different.”
Adubi had earlier identified the dearth of good and experienced personnel in the cable industry as a challenge.
She also listed sub-standard and adulteration of cable brands, and failure to implement local content laws by some government agencies as challenges confronting cable manufacturers.
She described duty waiver as an offshoot of financing and competitiveness, adding that if an accredited manufacturer is given waiver on their raw materials, it will make them competitive and enable them to be able to compete with Asian and other European imports.
To address the dearth of good and experienced personnel, MicCom Cables and Wires over the years, has developed a culture of investing in building the capacity of its workforce by training them in-house, locally and sometimes sending them overseas for special trainings.
As a result, the company is able to retain its employees for a longer time — keeping most of them for more than 20 to 30 years in the system, which enables transfer of skill set through internal trainings.
MicCom Cables and Wires Limited is an ISO 9001:2015 certified company, which has received various national and international awards & certifications. The company has a huge market share in the West African subregion.
The company is the first indigenous cable manufacturing company in Nigeria. Its business journey started in 1978 and has ever since produced quality cables and wires for the local and international markets.