By Zika Bobby
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) yesterday in Lagos destroyed substandard cables worth several millions of naira.
The Director in-charge of Compliance and Inspectorate, SON, Engr. Obiora Manafa who supervised the destruction, disclosed that the substandard cables were seized during SON operatives raids on warehouses across the state, saying the cables would have entered into the Nigerian markets and bought and used by Nigerians to electrify their houses.
He said: You know that we are not in the ports, the points of entry into the country, so we depend on our intelligence network. When we get information that a warehouse is keeping cables, we go there and carry out tests on the cables, if they fail the tests, we ceil tge warehouse untill we have evacuated the products to our warehouse for further tests and court order for destruction.”
He reiterated the need for SON officials to be at the ports to ensure that such substandard and dangerous goods do not find their way into the country.
He said if there is anything like one committing suicide unknowingly, that is how to describe what would happen if one used these cables for electrical to wiring of their houses.
“The the substandard cables failed all physical tests, and did not meet the safety requirements of Nigeria and are not fire resistant even in insulation.
Mabafa said made-in-Nigeria cables are the best because the manufacturers adhere strictly to the regulations of standards.
According to him, some of the imported cables meet standards and are safe for use but he advised consumers to visit SON website to confirm if such cables meet standards and are registered by the agency.
“Today, we are destroying substandard cables that are dangerous to human beings, cables that can burn houses if they are used, cables that can do a lot of harm to properties.
“We have different kinds of cables seized from warehouses of importers, they are about four trucks altogether.
“We have other ones that are undergoing court processes and that will be destroyed once we get court orders for them but these ones, we have obtained court order and we are destroying them.
“We should not allow these cables to enter any home, it is our responsibility to protect lives and property.
“It is also our responsibility to make sure that these cables do not find their ways into the markets so that people will not buy them because there are critical parameters we call conductor resistance and insulator resistance.
“They have failed these parameters woefully and we cannot allow the people to use them because these are the cables that when you go out from home and when you return,you see your house burnt.
Manafa explained further that some people do conduit wiring in their houses, “if it was done with substandard cables, the danger is that one does not know when the wires begin to burn, they gum to the wall until you get impact of the burning and it could be in the middle of the night.”