Worried by growing tendencies of violations of rules of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) which is leading to sanctions on importers and sometimes, outright seizure of goods by SON, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has called on its members to be above board in rendering their services to importers.
NAGAFF founder, Chief Boniface Aniebonam said it is very regrettable that freight forwarders have been conducting themselves in a manner that is detrimental to the investments of importers, while enriching other countries who for their personal gains may have turned Nigeria to a dumping ground for fake, adulterated and inferior goods. He said, “It is in the public glare including various publications of the organisation that every information with regard to processes and procedures of product registration can be obtained and carried out in all the offices of SON throughout the federation.
“We must advise that the practice of indulging in falsification of documents including but not limited to wrong description and concealment of products identity must stop forthwith. We have it on record and as a
matter of fact that the Enforcement Unit of SON may have decided to step
up their enforcement duty to include prosecution of offenders in line with their mandate and the Act establishing the organization.
“It is regrettably to observe that some Nigerians can go to the extent of importing canned waste oil, expired cylinders and substandard motor tyres
etc which are very dangerous to life. It is therefore our advice that practitioners should imbibe the concept of best practices as professionals in the business of freight forwarding
profession.”
Aniebonam however noted that it shall be responsible on the part of SON to continue to imbibe the culture of corrective measures to ensure that international trade is
encouraged in Nigeria.
To achieve this, he called on SON to engage stakeholders as responsible partners to achieve the objective of its mandate to the glory of mankind and the society, saying that the
need to moderate default and other related charges should also attract the attention of the SON management in favour of trade.