Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has introduced fresh measure called Product Authentication Mark (PAM) to help bring down to the barest minimum the influx and production of substandard goods into the Nigerian market. This fact was disclosed by the Director General of SON, Mr Osita Aboloma at the stakeholders sensitisation workshop on reduction of substandard products for South South Nigeria held in Calabar.
Represented by the South-South regional coordinator, Mr Papanye Don Pedro, Osita said PAM will decimate cloning and faking of genuine products. He said “PAM will complement other measures already in place such as Nigerian Quality Mark (NIS), Nigerian Quality Awards (NGA), SONCAP, MANCAP, etc” He said that the organisation’s battle against the menace of substandard products is a never-ending one because those he described as unscrupulous individuals keep innovating when it comes to manufacturing and importing substandard products.
“Substandard products harm our economy:it closes down genuine businesses and investment ,cripples industries and leads to thousands of job loss and in the international market it weakens competitive advantage and discourages patronage. It is an economic sabotage, it has led to loss of lives and property, it is harmful to health ,endangers the populace and reduces value for money ,in fact there is no alternative to standards if we must grow as a nation ,it is killing our economy and certainly not good for our GDP at all.
“Nigeria is not a dumping ground, we have to make the outside world understand this by making sure that whatever that enters the country or leaves is of the highest quality standard and the only we we can support this fight is by industrialisation,” he stated.
