SON takes standardization campaign to Dei-Dei Market in Abuja

Standards Organiation of Nigeria (SON) has taking its sensitization programme to the building material market, Dei-Dei, Abuja urging traders to desist from practices that will undermine the quality of works in the construction industry.

The Director General SON, Mr. Osita Aboloma, educated the building materials dealers in the market country on the disastrous consequences of manufacturing, buying and selling substandard building materials to unsuspecting Nigerians. He admonished those involved in building materials supply chain to comply with Standards and Quality assurance requirements so as not to endanger lives and incur avoidable economic losses.

According to him, compliance with quality and standards increases businesses and trading opportunities, guarantees sustained patronage as well as end-user satisfaction.

The Director General who was represented by Abba Bauchi, Assistant Director Operations, informed the traders that “the supplier and the receiver in sales transactions are equally important. I challenge you as an association of building materials dealers to pay greater attention to the issues of quality, certification and delivery note as a means of checkmating the influx of fake and substandard productsinto the market”.

In his presentation during the exercise, the Head of Construction Management, SON, Engr. Adisa Kareem harped on the need for the dealers not to stock substandard building materials in their shops and warehouses, advising them to always cross-check goods from their suppliers to forestall incidences of shortages in size, length or width as the case may be.

Kareem admonished the building materials dealers to report cases of short measures and the like to SON for appropriate action and urged them to patronize only manufactures or importers with identifiable locationsto ensure traceability.

According to him, “there is a need more than ever for Nigerians to conform to Standards as the revised SON Act 14 of 2015 has stipulated stringent penalties against erring manufacturers, importers and dealers in substandard products and their collaborators.” Ignorance of the law according to Engr. Kareem will not be an excuse on issues of substandard products and services.

Welcoming the delegation, the Chairman of Dei-Dei building materials market, Chief Onah Raphael thanked SON for the sensitization programme which, according to him, will go a long way in complementing the efforts by the leadership of the market to rid the environment of substandard products.

He narrated the association’s efforts at self-regulation amongst its members through regular checking of shops for substandard products and other unwholesome practices.

However, he drew the attention of SON to a case where some materials that were bought by dealers in the market, have issues with measurement and calibration inaccuracies, recorded against some manufacturers in the country.

Dei-Dei building material market Abuja, located at the outskirt of the Federal Capital Territory is the largest building material market within the North-Central. The programme was attended by about 400 members of the Association.