Business
80% products in African markets are fake, foreign
About 80 per cent of goods found in markets across Nigeria and other parts of Africa are substandard products imported from outside the continent, by people intent on undermining the African market and diminishing the value for money in the usage of such products, for their selfish benefit.
This was made known by the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) on Tuesday during a stakeholders’ launch to announce a three-day expo for Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of all African National Standards Bodies (NSBs) slated to hold next month in Abuja.
The Director General, SON and President of ARSO, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, stated that that the ARSO forum in Abuja scheduled for next month is planned, to sensitise the world on the readiness of African standards bodies to strengthen the continent’sl economic integration by breaking technical barriers to trade through standards unification to enhance industrial and economic empowerment.
“We do not have a problem with products made in Africa. Africa only has an issue of sub-standardisation due to lack of requisite technology and absence of the capacity to produce at the highest level in terms of quality. Currently, we are having issues in trading among ourselves and we are looking at building an intra-Africa trade, to take the volume of trade within the continent beyond the current precariously low level of five per cent.
He added that Africa must come together to fight its common enemies, stressing that the continent may not be able to fight its enemies with each country acting on its own.
He noted that the African Heads of States declared 2017 as the year when all the countries in Africa will be integrated into a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) but maintained that for this to happen successfully, the countries in Africa have to be on the same page, having common standards and same language in other aspects of the quality infrastructure.
He said one of the challenges faced within the ARSO, is that a number of countries do not have their own standard bodies, stressing the need for these countries to be supported by those countries that have built robust capacities in order to make every nation in the continent speak with one voice.
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