The Standard Organisation of Nigeria has said that it destroyed 10 million substandard tyres in six months.
In a statement, the Director General of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, said this at a one-day sensitisation programme with tyre dealers at the Africa Tyre Village, Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, Lagos.
Speaking at the sensitisation programme tagged “Vehicle tyres, quality and management for effectiveness via standardisation”, Salim said that there were 40 million used tyres across the country.
He added that the agency had also trained over 800 tyre importers and vulcanisers on ways to identify quality tyres in its bid to ensure safety on Nigerian roads.
Salim, who was represented at the event by the Director of Compliance, SON, Suleiman Issa, said that the move was a clear demonstration of its zero tolerance for substandard products.
“SON has remained absolutely committed in regulating the product. Nigeria had an estimated 40 million used tyres across the country where the standards body has successfully removed about 10 million within six months.”
He also reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to improving lives through quality assurance.
Salim said the agency had been inundated with complaints over the rate of substandard tyres in the country, hence the need for sensitisation cannot be overemphasised.
The SON boss said that all hands must be on deck to checkmate the influx of substandard goods into the country.
He stressed that SON was strengthening its collaborations with sister agencies to combat the scourge of fake and substandard products.
Salim stated that all secondhand tyres were not allowed as they were automatically qualified for seizures and destruction in the country.
“All secondhand tyres are not allowed as they are automatically qualified for seizures and destruction and whenever we see them, we will do just that. This sensitisation programme will be repeated everywhere nationwide.”
“We have nine department spread nationwide for better coverage. We have more than 40 State offices nationwide directed to conduct the same sensitisation to reduce fatality on our roads.
“Our records show that seized expired or bad tyres constituted almost the biggest howl in the agency’s warehouses where confiscated products are subjected to laboratory tests and analyses before public destruction of them as fake and substandard products. We have confiscated and destroyed fake tyres worth billions within recent years,” he said.
Earlier, the President of Association of Nigeria Tyre Marketers, Issa Akanbi, promised a continued collaboration with SON aimed at making Nigeria’s roads safe.
According to him, tyres are the only vehicle component that put the life of passengers at risk if and when taken for granted.
“This is the reason we see tyres as life here, giving it our possible best to maintain the right standard and quality allowed into our market,” he said.
Akanbi stated that the malfunction of any other vehicle component can only pull the vehicle to a halt and may only succeed in delaying the passengers’ journey.
