Every country has her own challenges with substandard goods and products, whether manufactured locally or imported, but that of Nigeria is in higher than usual dimensions.
I made up my mind to do this blog, because of my own frequent encounter with substandard products.
Picture this scenario, you have been using a particular body lotion for the past couple of months and it has been so nice on your skin. So you decided to pick another bottle of same lotion and after usage this particular lotion had caused irritation on your nice skin and made your face look like a dracula! How would you feel or think? Definitely, you have bought the counterfeit lotion Or assuming it was even a prescribed drug for a particular ailment, and you bought counterfeit believe me it would not only compound the ailment it would equally damage some of your internal organs and certainly if there is no timely intervention, death!
The prevalence of substandard products was so much in the pharmaceutical sector until Prof. Dora Akunyili proved that the challenge of fake drugs could be dealt with successfully. It was not easy for her and her colleagues at NAFDAC in those days.
The preponderance of fake products in almost all spheres of human activity here is alarming. From computers and ICT products, building materials, machinery, cars and spare parts, hand kerchiefs, towels, to keys and padlocks, fake products flood the market daily, and they are mostly from China and Asia.
However, based on my recent findings, I found out that it is even Nigerian manufacturers that have been encouraging these Asians and Chinese by saying ” Nigerians like quantity not quality” hence they keep bringing in substandard goods.
The government body responsible for designation, establishment, approval and declaration of standards in respect of materials, commodities, structures and processes, certification of products in commerce and industry, their promotion at national, regional and international levels, throughout Nigeria, and the enforcement of same is the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON.
Well, NAFDAC and SON have been given the mandate as regards to the regulations of both consumable and non-consumable goods. However, regardless of the fact that they have been on the vanguard of stamping out the menace of counterfeit products, these crafty men behind these hideous acts will never yield with gentle hands, therefore my suggestion is for them to go back to the drawing board and re-organise their strategies to stall this menace because in the end, we all going to bear the brunt, if nothing changes!
God bless Naija!
Oladotun OF