NIGERIA: Standards Authority to Impound sub-standard tires from dealers, importers

Piqued by the loss of lives and properties arising from usage of substandard tires in the country, the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) has concluded plans to impound sub-standard tires from dealers, manufacturers and importers in the country through its reconstituted task force.

According to the Acting Director General of SON, Dr. Paul Angya, the statistics from the Federal Road Service Corp. (FRSC) showed that the number of lives lost through accidents arising from over-speeding and use of substandard tires, is alarming, maintaining that in 2015, a total of 8,986 road accidents were recorded with about 4,910 people killed, out of which over 722 of those road crashes were due to burst tires.

He stated that the agency's record showed that seized, expired or bad tires constitute almost the biggest howl in the agency's warehouses where confiscated products are subjected to laboratory tests and analysis before public destruction, saying that SON has confiscated and destroyed fake tires worth over N20 billion within the last three years.

The Acting SON boss during a stakeholders meeting with tire dealers, manufacturers and importers, said: "You have 24 hours to clean up your stores if you have substandard tires in your store. Please make sure that they disappear within 24 hours and make sure we do not find you with those tires. Within 24 hours, our team is coming and now we have a law that authorizes us to close you down for as long as we want without going to court and we will use it”.

"This is what we have been suffering in Nigeria. We have invited you here to tell you that enough is enough and those dealing with substandard tires, when we catch you, we will treat you as a murderer. We are not going to charge for dealing with fake and substandard tires but charge you for killing innocent lives," he said. He added that the agency has a law to shut down operations of businesses caught for malpractices for three months without taking such to court.

Source: Daily “The Guardian”, Lagos; 18 Mar 2016
(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)