The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) yesterday destroyed substandard mobile phone accessories worth over N480 million.
Speaking at the destruction site of the products in Epe, Lagos, the agency’s director, inspectorate, compliance and directorate, Mr. Obiora Manafa, said the move was aimed at deterring unscrupulous importers who indulge in illicit trade from short-changing unsuspecting consumers.
Besides, he said the products were destroyed to ensure that the goods did not find their way into the market.
He said the importers of the substandard mobile accessories contravened the law by faking known brands.
“They are mobile accessories and they are fake major brands such as Samsung, Tecno, Infinix, Huawei and lots of others. We seized these items last year from a commercial warehouse at Ojo-Alaba Lagos. We subjected them to laboratory analysis and they all failed.
“We also went further to do the analysis and they all failed the test. We are also looking at these accessories from two aspects which include the economic and safety points of view.
“The economic point is that the accessories you buy will not last more than a week and this to us does not make economic sense because you do not get value for the money spent.
“The safety aspect is that these accessories pose serious threat to the users. When we tested the insulation parameters of these products, they all failed woefully.
“The minimum power you get from these products should be 1000 mega ohms, but the values we got after testing gave only 60 mega ohms. So it is as bad as using naked wires because it is not preventing any flow of current exposing the users to electric shocks and can even burn houses,” he said.
He said it was regrettable that the products were burnt because they are a loss to the owners, having spent so much money to import them.
“It is even a drain on the national economy and nobody is happy about that, but we have our primary responsibility to protect lives and property of Nigerians,” he added.
He said SON was on the trail of the importers of the goods adding that the agency would stop at nothing to arrest and prosecute them.
