From: Rose Ejembi, Makurdi.
The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has warned members of the public against patronising substandard manufactured products without SON’s certification.
SON Director General, Barr. Osita Anthony Aboloma, gave the warning, on Tuesday, in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, while presenting SON Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) certification to SOCEPV Standard Poles Limited and RANTITO Dairies both in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, whose products passed the monitoring process and conformed to Nigerian Industrial Standards.
He said that the two organisations had mapped out strategies involving the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC to clamp down on manufacturers of manufactured products including electric poles without SON certification.
Aboloma stated that the decision to involve ICPC was to prevent dumping of unsafe and counterfeited products in the markets and also promote consumer confidence and global competitiveness of Nigerian goods and services.
Aboloma, who was represented by the SON State coordinator in Makurdi, Mr. Samson Makolo, said that every product that had met the requirements of the Nigerian Industrial Standards was safe and certified with either a MANCAP or a NIS (Nigerian Mark of Quality) sign.
Hem also appealed to the Nigeria Independent Power Project (NIPP) and governments at all levels to patronise only concrete poles certified by SON so as to sanitise the power sector.
According to him, the power sector had recorded lots of deaths in recent times in a bid to erecting poles to distribute electricity to the public and so many other power facilities destroyed due to use of low quality standard of manufactured poles,saying there is need for other regulators and engineering bodies in the building and power distribution sector to always insist on using certified products.
He said SOCEPV Standard Poles Limited Makurdi has met all the requirements needed for the award of MANCAP (NIS) Certificate having been subjected to thorough dynamo metric tests in SON Laboratory Enugu and other independent laboratories in Nigeria, where the results therefrom showed that the product conformed to NIS 586/2007 and other international standards.
”Having gone through rigorous test requirements by SON Engineers, the Governing Council of SON deemed it fit and thereby awarded this prestigious MANCAP Certificate (first in Benue state) to SOCEPV Standard Poles limited. This certificate of MANCAP is for your; (a) Concrete Electric Pole(High Tension), (b) Concrete Electric Pole(Low Tension) respectively subject to renewable after three years”. Aboloma stated.
And to RANTITO Dairies, he said; “the company, having gone through rigorous test requirements in SON Laboratory and inspection, the governing Council of SON deemed it fit and thereby rev alidade the NIS certificates already won by the company. This award of MANCAP Certificate is for your Woodland Bottled Water, Tito Furaghourt and Tito Yoghourt Plus.”
Receiving their certificates separately, the Managing director and chief executive officer, SOCEPV Standard Pole Ltd, Mrs. Fola Onadeji and Chief Executive of RANTITO Dairies, Chief Isaac Akinkunmi said the qualification and subsequent award of MANCAP certificate, would help them immensely to strengthen the organisation to deliver quality products to the Nigerian populace.