The Director General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Muda Yusuf, has mentioned intelligence as a key area the newly appointed DG of Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), Mallam Farouk Salim must pay attention to in the fight to curb the influx of substandard products in Nigeria.
Yusuf said this in the wake of his congratulatory message to the new SON boss whom he described as core professional with a matching record for the position.
He said, “This is because without intelligence, the enforcers cannot catch up with the criminals that perpetuate the production and importation of substandard products. So, strengthening of intelligence is very crucial and this requires support of and collaboration of the private sector.”
Speaking about other areas in need of focus, Yusuf appealed to the new DG to prioritize the welfare and security of his staff.
“We will also like to see better logistics for the staff and better security for them, because the task of stopping the criminal elements involved in the production and circulation of substandard products is a very risky assignment. So to primarily reduce the risks involved, the new DG will need to collaborate with the security agencies to provide adequate security cover for the officials of SON.
Yusuf continued, “We would also like to see stronger enforcement, stronger compliance among all the critical stakeholders, particularly in the private sector. This requires high level of discipline among the officials; it requires that the officials didn’t compromise. Also, in order to improve the resources available to him, he will need to collaborate with the relevant agencies of the government and the private sector to put pressure on the government to strengthen the capacity of SON with the desired resources so that things will work out better.”
The LCCI boss also promised to lend support to SON whenever the need arises in the fight to curb the inflow of fake and substandard products as it tends to put the country in the bad light.
