NIGERIA: The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has vowed to strengthen its partnership with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to help combat the preponderance of fake and substandard goods in the country.
The Comptroller General, NCS, Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd), during a courtesy visit to SON yesterday, said his visit was to strengthen the synergy already existing between the two agencies, pointing out that SON is one of the key government apparatus to drive economic growth and development.
According to him, the expertise to determine if a good is wholesome for consumption is rested with SON, maintaining that the customs will strengthen its support to SON to ensure that what comes into the country meet the minimum requirements of the Nigeria Industrial Standards (NIS).
“We have always worked with SON. On assumption of office, we identified key government parastatals that we must create synergies with going forward. SON is one of those key government apparatus that we must work closely with to ensure that what comes into the country meets minimum requirement of the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS),” he added.
“We are here to agree that henceforth, we will be working hand in hand in order to make sure that our jobs are made easy. I want to assure that this partnership is the beginning of something good for Nigeria. I am going to make Lagos my second place of aboard in terms of office because 60 to 70 per cent of my operations are here in Lagos. I want to assure you that I will continuously to pay courtesy visits because I believe there are so many areas of collaboration between the two agencies,” he stressed.
He stated the need for effective partnerships of government agencies, assuring SON that the NCS would deliberate way forward on strategic steps to address the importation of substandard goods in the country.
“I want to state that our job as regulators is made easier if we collaborate. With regards to the issues you have raised, we will go back and discuss some of them and later get back to you. I am very sure that these are things one would consider looking at the prime factors that drive our job so that together we can make progress,” he said.
“Our visit here is also to look at issues that bother around our collaboration so that we can itemise them and proffer solutions to surmount the challenges. The expertise to identify the standards of products is rested with SON. Since SON has a laboratory to test and certify products, the idea is for us to create that bond to help us identify goods that do not meet the minimum requirements,” he added.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Director General, SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu explained that within six months, Nigerians should expect a drastic reduction of the level of substandard products in Nigeria courtesy of the Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS) the agency launched recently. “Odumodu said partnering the customs was very imperative adding that without it, SON’s success would largely be dependent on the level of collaboration with the NCS.
“We know that without the customs, our job as SON is very limited. Our success is dependent to a very large extent on the level of collaboration we have with the NCS. I really must say that within the last three months, the level of collaboration with the Nigerian customs have actually grown so rapidly that we are beginning to feel we can achieve a lot more in our enforcement activities,” he added.
In his words: “I do not have any doubt in my mind that the current Comptroller General will succeed on his new appointment. The NCS holds the key to trade facilitation in Nigeria. With the kind of leadership we have now, it is only a matter of time before we start to see the fruit.”
He said SON has identified grey areas of collaboration with the NCS, saying that the agency have insisted that all containers coming into the country must be sealed with tamper proof seals by SON’s international testing companies
“We want the collaboration to get to the point that customs will not treat any container that does not have the seal. We want to request that you allow us to be part of the examination process. There are some products we call live-endangering process such as bulbs, cables, reinforcement bars and the likes that we will like to have a peep,” he said.
He said to address the high level of food reject at the global market, the NCS must insist that exporters must produce a certificate of analysis issued by an accredited laboratory in Nigeria
The SON boss stated that the millions of small importers in the country are mostly responsible for the prevalence of substandard goods, saying that these importers are very difficult to locate because they do not have names and warehouses.
“Last two years, there was about 80 per cent rejection of Nigerian goods at the international market and I say we can have zero per cent reduction. All we need to do is to do due diligence by testing the product before they are exported. Once you have an accredited laboratory and you test and certify your products, no matter where you take the product, it will be acceptable because this is the system practised outside Nigeria,” he said.
“I want to also appeal to the Comptroller General to give SON staff the opportunity to access information about the borders. I do not know if you have integrated the borders into your system, if you have, we will like to have an access,” he added.
He commended the President Muhammadu Buhari for the appointment of the new Comptroller General, pointing out his appointment is so far the most important made, saying that the new Comptroller General will play a critical role in terms of trade.
