The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) says it has received provisional approval of the Federal Government to return to the seaports and participate in cargo examination.
The Director General of SON, Mr. Farouk Salim, said in Abuja on Sunday that the Nigeria Customs Service had directed its Area Controllers to include SON officials in the joint inspection teams at the ports, while the NPA had promised to provide office accommodation for the staff of the organisation.
He explained that the presence of SON at the port would check the influx of substandard products into the country.
“We are supposed to ensure that the borders and the ports are monitored properly, and in doing this, we protect the country from substandard goods. One of such ways is to make sure that the employees of SON are in the port of entries in the country, especially the Lagos port where majority of goods come into this country.
“Our people can be efficient if we are allowed to work at the point of entry of these goods, but right now we are not allowed at the ports. They allow us once in a while to check goods but that should not be the way because SON as an organisation should not depend on the kindness of other organisations to do its work. The 2015 Act Section 7(30b) says the Standard Organisation must be at the port of entry into this country,” the report by Ships and Ports, a maritime publication, quoted Salim as saying.
According to the report, SON is seeking the cooperation of other government agencies to ensure a smooth return to the ports.
It will be recalled that SON was, along with some other government agencies, sacked from the ports in 2011 as part of efforts to reduce the cost of doing business at the Nigerian gateways.
The sack order was extended in 2017 through an Executive Order on the ease of doing business at the ports, which mandated only seven agencies to remain in the ports, while SON, National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) were no longer allowed to have representatives in the ports nor partake in the process of cargo clearance.
The seven agencies authorised to remain in the ports include the Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Maritime Administration ad Safety Agency. Others are the Department of State Security, Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Immigration Service and the Port Health Services.
GIK/APA