SON says 70% of lubricants in the country are substandard

The Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) has revealed that over 70 percent of lubricants in the country are substandard, as they fall below the quality parameters of the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS).

This was disclosed by its Director-General, Osita Aboloma, who added that the SON was collaborating with manufacturers and dealers of lubricants to stamp out substandard products in the sector.

Aboloma also stressed the urgent need to checkmate the emerging trend of faking and cloning of successful brands in order not to short-change unsuspecting Nigerian consumers and also prevent a drain on the Nigerian economy.

The SON DG stated this during an emergency meeting with stakeholders in the lubricant industry, lamenting that the development was a cause of worry to the agency.

He said: “The meeting was as a result of the persistent complaints from the consumers on the effect of the influx of substandard and adulterated engine oil that has led to the failure of machineries that are used in manufacturing.

“The products are life-threatening and create a drain on the economy. After our nationwide campaign of fighting substandard lubricants, we had to let dealers know that what we have seen is not satisfactory while also having a workable partnership to see how we can combat the menace.

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“This is why we let them know that when they register their products, it becomes the responsibility of SON to protect them from purveyors of substandard products. Some of the goods that are dangerous will have to be destroyed while some undergo corrective measures all at the cost of the owners of such products.”

Aboloma further said that SON would also intensify its effort in constant monitoring of the people who manufacture or blend within Nigeria to ensure that they did not fall below the minimum requirement of the standards.

“Any importer or manufacturer that falls below the NIS will face the full wrath of the law. Nigeria is a world trade organisation member and we have the same standards for imported and locally -manufactured products. This is what we call fair trade,” he said.

Speaking at the meeting, the Managing Director, LUBCON, Taiye Williams, lamented that the activity of product adulterators was killing the manufacturing sector of the economy.

According to Williams, after going through the effort to churn out quality products, the unscrupulous dealers in fake and substandard goods indulge in faking the successful brands in the market to rob consumers of their hard earned money while also destroying the image of successful brands in the market.

“We are very happy with what the Director- General, SON, is doing now and we are in full support as a group. We know that if we are able to pull this through, we will be able to solve this problem while also sustaining manufacturing in this country,” the LUBCON boss said.

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