N2b Car Warehouse Sealed in Lagos
Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) yesterday in Lagos sealed up a warehouse with automobile products worth over N2 billion.
The SON’s team also arrested a foreigner that works for the company, who is expected to be a lead towards unraveling the owners of the facility.
The products intercepted at the warehouse include motorcycle chains, motorcycle engine blocks, clutch fibres, outdated tyre tubes, which have been in the warehouse for about seven years, volumes of fake Day Long packaging and fake Day Long engine oil, among others.
Leading the SON’s team and journalists to the warehouse located around Orile in Apapa area of the state, Mr. Bede Obayi, SON’s Director, Inspectorate and Compliance Directorate, said the warehouse would not only be sealed but the goods would be moved to SON’s warehouse for further investigation before they would be destroyed.
Obayi said the owner of the products used two known brand names, Day Long and Okwuson Motorcycle Chain to perpetrate the illegal act.
According to Obayi, Day Long is a registered company with SON by an entrepreneur, Akibona, while Okwuson Nigeria Limited is also registered and exists in Lagos.
But he explained that the fake Okwuson’s product has no known address and the telephone number on the package indicated it should be from Anambra, but when the telephone was called, there was no response.
According to Obayi, the alleged dealer brought in the fake motorcycle chains under Okwuson, with empty Day Long packages, which they later repackaged at the warehouse in Orile and sell to Nigerians as made in China products.
He said, “upon investigation through the Nigerian Trade Hub, the single window, SON discovered that the products were brought in through a company named Ade Ori Nigeria Limited, with no trace of registration of the products with SON. There is no evidence of SONCAP certificates for all the motorcycle spare parts, tyres and tubes brought in by this company into Nigeria.”
The SON’s director said the company has been perpetrating the illegal act since July 30, 2014, within the period which it has made 82 shipments of the consignments in 194 containers, valuing the total products to have been above N3 billion.
He stated that the action was in continuation of the organisation’s effort to rid Nigeria of substandard and fake products, which are detrimental to the citizens.
“These products are dangerous. No country of manufacture, no country of origin for trace-ability, and there is no way SON will approve empty cartons to be brought into the country.
“These are products brought in by Chinese and Indians, and where we see such we will destroy them, because we cannot allow Nigerians to be killed anyhow. Or what do you think will happen to somebody using an expired tube and adulterated engine oil and others?
“From now on, this warehouse remains sealed and the Indian staff caught is going to be handed over and will remain in police custody.”
Meanwhile, the Indian staff, who identified himself as Justin Paul, 28 years, upon interrogation by Daily Sun said he came into the country just three months ago and denied knowledge of the products as fake or substandard.
http://sunnewsonline.com/
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