Fidelia Okafor

A truck load of energy saving bulbs suspected to be substandard products has been intercepted and confiscated by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

The SON enforcement officials said that the products failed parameter tests carried out on them prescribing the number of hours the bulbs would last before expiration.

The team led by Engr Bede Obayi, Head of inspectorate and Compliance Directorate also discovered that there were false declarations on the wattage of the said products.

Speaking to journalists, Obayi said the bulbs could not meet 20 per cent of the rated value of tension test confirming that it is substandard.

In addition, its marking details which help in traceability of the products in circulation  was not specified.

He said the discovery of the products followed high level of interlliegnece reports to the organisation, promising that the agency would continue to do its job in such a way that would help the sanitisation of the economy.

“SON is motivated to create the necessary environment for local entrepreneurs, especially the manufacturers to thrive, which would also create the room for small business enterprises especially to contribute to the development of the economy” Obayi said.

According to him, the agency’s director-general, Barrister Osita Aboloma is interested in helping small and medium enterprises sector of the Nigerian economy to grow, so that they could employ more Nigerians and also add value to the nation’s economic development aspirations.

The SON has been striving to stamp out substandard products in the country, and has undertaken a lot of enforcement exercises, and has equally been active in the area of sensitising Nigerians on the need to shun substandard products.

SON had equally been building bridges of understanding with the key operators in the economy, to find out the challenges they face and the best way to tackle such challenges.