SON confiscates, destroys four truck loads of inferior electric cables

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has confirmed that it has destroyed no fewer than four truck loads of substandard electric cables declared to be of no economic value.

This was revealed on Tuesday by the Director-General of SON, Mr Osita Aboloma, who said that the destroyed cables were dangerous to both lives and property.

He also reiterated that the organisation would continue to engage in its numerous sensistisation programmes on the negative impact of substandard products

According to Aboloma who was represented by the Director, Inspectorate and Compliance, SON, Mr Obiora Manafa, other seized cables are undergoing court processes and will be ready for destruction anytime we get the court orders.

He said; “These cables can do a lot of harm to the economy, and they were seized from importers who stocked them in their warehouses.

“We are currently destroying four truck loads of substandard electric cables, while the other ones we seized are undergoing court processes and will be ready for destruction anytime we get the court orders.

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According to Aboloma, the seized cables failed the conductor and insulator resistance parameters and as such, were unsafe for use adding that the standard for conductor resistance was 12 Ohms, but that these substandard cables gave over 1000 Ohms after going through laboratory tests.

“It is our responsibility to ensure that these goods do not enter the market because there are critical parameters in the standards namely conductor resistance and insulator resistance.

“These cables failed the standards woefully. These are cables that when you use them, you return from work and see your house burnt to the ground.

“These cables are so dangerous that you do not see them burning and if you are not there or in the middle of the night, your house gets burnt.

“We will not allow that and it is our responsibility in SON to ensure lives and property are safe”

“We are not happy that we are destroying these goods, because it is a loss to the owner and the nation, but we have the mandate to protect the lives and property of Nigerians even if it is only one life of a Nigerian.

“We are destroying them using burning and cutting; the ones that will not impact the environment adversely, we burn them because we do not want to pollute the environment.

“The cables were intercepted at some warehouses in Lagos courtesy of our surveillance team,” he said.

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