SON nabs importer over expired household consumables

Two months after a building of eight bedrooms was sealed up by operatives of Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, in Kirikiri area, Apapa, Lagos, for being stocked with expired and fake products, two other buildings in the vicinity (Comfort Oboh Street) were, weekend, discovered to be stocked with expired household products. 

The fake products, which the importer has been arrested, were household consumables imported by the same company accused of tampering with products’ expiry dates and labels two months ago.
SON’s Director-General, Osita Aboloma, who was represented by the Director of Inspectorate and Compliance, Bede Obayi, said most of the substandard products that had left the warehouse will be traced and recalled.
He said: “We acted on the intelligence report received from well-meaning Nigerians and a tip-off courtesy of the Nigeria Police Force. You can see the volume of expired products here and imagine the implication for our society in terms of health issues.”
Aboloma described as disheartening cases of importers who specialise in importing bad goods and sell same to innocent Nigerians.
He commended the Lagos State government for its prompt response in sealing up the entire building to prevent the products from circulation, adding that SON would conduct due diligence on the ones recently discovered.
The Director, Investigation and Enforcement, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Mr. Kingsley Ejiofor, expressed worry that substandard products continue to find their way through porous borders.
He lauded police and SON for clamping down on the importer, while also calling for other hands to be on deck to checkmate the influx of fake and substandard goods into the country.