Onitsha (Anambra) – No fewer than 5,000 traders in Onitsha, Anambra State on Tuesday staged a protest march against the prevalence of fake and sub-standard products in the city.
The march was part of the events being organised by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) across the country to sensitise the public on fake and sub-standard products.
The traders were drawn from non-edible products markets in Onitsha and its environs.
During the processing which took the traders to strategic areas of the commercial city, leaflets, fliers and pamphlets condemning all forms of sub-standard products as well as ways to identify them, were distributed.
Addressing the traders who were later assembled at a workshop, the Director-General of SON, Dr Joseph Odumodu, called for concerted effort of everyone in the fight against fake and sub-standard products.
He said that SON regarded traders as strategic partners in its quest to ensure that markets nationwide were cleared on such products.
“If you bring in wire or rod that is not of standard and SON seizes and destroys it, had the man who made it lost anything?
“No is the answer because it is the man from Nigeria that loses. So, why can’t we protect ourselves?,” he said.
“What we are negotiating is that if you bring in any good into Nigeria and we discover that the product is sub-standard, we will ensure that you return it to the country that you bought it and at their own expense.
“If we do that two times, they will stop bringing those bad products. The point is that these products are harming us”, Odumodu added.
Also speaking at the workshop, Mr Sunday Ezenwaobi, Chairman of New Tyre Market, Nkpor, commended SON for the sensitisation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that markets that participated in the march were Old Tyre Market, Nkpor; Building Material Market, Ogidi and Electrical Parts Market, Obosi.
Others were Electronics International Market, Onitsha; Machine Parts Market, Nkpor and Old Motor Spare Parts Market, Awada. (NAN)
