Over the years, sub-standard, fake and counterfeiting products have been a major bottle-neck militating against the growth and development of the Nigerian economy.
This has been very persistent so much as to instilling fear and lack of confidence on almost every Nigerian that buys any product in the market which forced the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, (SON) the apex standards body of the country to put in place measures to ensure that the issues are reduced to the barest minimum.
In an interview with the Director, Product Certification, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Mr. Tersoo Orngudwem said Product Authentication Mark (PAM) when fully in use will eradicate counterfeiting, fake and sub-standard products in the country’s market.
He quoted the Director General and Chief Executive of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim as saying, “counterfeiting and sub-standard is a means of earning for some people which results into killing even our industries as well as being linked to security issue because the more factories that are out, the more youths we have on the streets”.
Mr. Orngudwem said with that, the standards agency introduce the SONCAP “to ensure the quality of products in our market that we will be proud of so that when we buy it as consumers, we are having value for our money but the other group which is also persistent on getting money from their consumers without knowing, keep on bringing in imported goods that don’t meet the requirement or that will not give value for the customer that is purchasing the product.
“In line with that, we have some products that will solve this problem, the SON Conformity Assessment Programme which is meant for imported goods into Nigeria to make sure that goods coming into Nigeria are certified before they reach our market.
“And we also have for the locally manufactured goods called MANCAP, so that we are not seen by the International Community as if we are creating a trade barrier so that imported goods cannot come into our country.
“We should know that the world has become a global village and Nigeria is part of that village, and we cannot run away from it, so rising from that we have introduced measures particularly for the imported goods so that Nigeria does not become a dumping ground to any other country that is if they want to trade with us, they should give us what they can use in their country. So, with that the SONCAP programme was introduced together with our registration programme to give value to the people that are purchasing products in our market”.
PAM The Game-Changer:
He said “in the certifing programme, there is no mark on the product to show the purchaser, the consumer which includes (you & me) that is a certified product, certified by SON, so in line with that, as far back as 2014 looking at what our partners in the world are doing, we decided that we will look at an identity for certisfied product and code named that programme that we anticipated as Product Authentication Mark (PAM) so that when a product is imported in the country or even locally manufactured, we can see the symbol on it, using our phone we can verify the quantity of the product before we buy.
“We intended to launch this far back as at that time but the bureaucracy’s involved and may be the people who are involved in counterfeiting of sub-standard goods were afraid and they kicked against it but the idea is, when this is done, the consumer will also be involved in the enforcement of quality of goods before they buy”.
Consumer As King:
“If you check the quality of goods and it is substandard you will leave it quietly and work away and look for the other one that when you do the scan either by SMS or by Scaning using an Android phone it will indicate your server which is Connected to GPS that there is a substandard goods in this location and with that, our enforcement officer will also not just be gabbling in the market, they will just go to a specific place for the enforcement.
“The consumer themselves once again will have the right to decide on all goods he wants to buy. If the consumer deliberately decides to buy a substandard goods, it is his own decision now, looking at all considerations but we believe with this, the issues of substandard and counterfeiting products will be reduced to the barest minimum”.
PAM To Check Corruption:
“Then one other angle is, if we work in collaboration with other stakeholders and government agencies especially those involved in tax collection when PAM programme is introduced, only the exact number or quantity of products declared to SON that will be given sticker.
“Our country being what it is, it is possible that products may be under declared so that their exercise duties will be low. But with this, it will not be business as usual.
“So if you produce a million pieces and you under declare to SON and say it is only five thousand pieces you produced, you will be given stickers only for five thousand pieces.
“The importers share same information with the custom that what they are bringing in is five thousand pieces while they push the remaining nine thousand, five hundred pieces into the market. No body will buy it because if we create our jingle and the customer knows what is right he will not buy. With this even the issue of smuggling will reduce, the possibility of you getting our stamps to put on the goods to sell in the market will be reduced hence your smuggled product will be in the market without our logo on it that can be authenticated, hence with that, you put it in your shop nobody buys because we are encouraging customers to check before they buy and with that SON will be more effective and Nigeria’s market will be rid of sub-standard and counterfeiting products and even despite our large population the customer is the king in buying using this model, they will buy better”.
PAM To Reposition Nigeria At AfCFTA:
“On the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), I mentioned the issue of dumping and Nigeria presently with our estimated population of 220 million, the Africa population is estimated at 1.2 to 1.3 billion if you compare that, that means we make up almost 20% of that, population so every Africa country will be targeting Nigeria as a market to go and with that and the possibility of also other markets in the world smuggling through other countries to come because of Africa continental Free Trade through countries and claim more region and then they go back to their countries.
“With this if you are bringing in goods your product must be certified and if it is certified it will be given the mark, that is the, Product Authentication Mark (PAM) and it will be in our market.
“So, if you come with a sub-standard product that is not certified, it will not serve. So with that the issue of dumping even through the Free Trade Agreement will be reduced to the barest minimum”.
PAM To Restore Trust And Confidence:
“Trust as I stated when I was talking of SONCAP and MANCAP in the world which has become a global village, you normally try to create a balance. For now, we are majorly looking at imported products, we are giving a window for local manufacturers of SON regulated products who are willing to come into the programme because presently, we certified the the locally manufactured programme and give them a logo which many of them put on their products we will see the SON logo on it with eagle in between which shows quality, so many of them I will believe will also want it because it is not just an ordinary sticker without a proof on their label which anybody can still fake them but with that, they are into the circle of authentication, so the locally manufactured for now, we are making it volunteer for them to come in but I believe if they see the beauty of the thing, most of them will come in. we know many of them that have come up to us to complain that their goods are certisfied by us, is adding value to them but what about the man in the next shop without the mark who can easily counterfeited and they will have more sales compared to the person that doesn’t have the certification”.
Use Of Mobile Phone For Enforcement:
“The programme is designed such that, the product has the stamp on it and you have the QR code either on your Android phone or there is a number on the stamp on the product. If you don’t have an Android phone or an IOS phone, you can send the number of the product on the stamp to a code, a toll free code 281 and within 5 seconds, you will receive a message telling you that the product is certified by SON and is good for use. If it is an Android or an IOS phone, you just download SON PAM App, keep it on your phone, walk into a shop, whether is locally manufactured or imported good, check if is on it, scan and send the message directly to our server and like I said in the beginning, the server has a GPRS connection that will indicate the location where those substandard goods are.
So with that the SON staff who are in the enforcement unit that are to be connected to the system will know where such products are in different location in the various states. The second as I did emphasized, the consumer themselves are the number one enforcement officers because they can scan and refuse to buy. The goods will remain there off the shelf and the SON will be notified through the GPRS on their server”.
Multiple Security Features, Serial Number:
“The world is a global village, this technology is not purely our own. we see other standards body in other countries even in Africa do it and we visited and see what they were doing and in most of the country that are doing particularly Africa, their stamp stickers have four security features. We are looking at the intelligence of our people which if harnessed in the positive site will make us one of the best digitized people on earth, we decided to go from four to over twenty security features and the stamp is also water proof. So with four (4) to twenty-five Security features, you must really be a lazy body to try in cracking over twenty features which will cost you more than the cost of doing that sticker and the sticker is per product not per group and each product, the number is unique .
“They are not replicated, they are alpha numeric and there are no duplication so with that, the security is enhanced better than those we even took from particularly the countries in the East and South Africa. In West Africa, Ghana, Sierra Leon and Liberia who even came to discuss with us have already started it and they are doing very well.
“One like I said, sub-standard goods is a problem to the nation, it makes our local industry not to thrive hence creating unemployment. The many youths on our streets if most of the industries are working they will have jobs hence they will not be on the street and no where in the world does government give job to everybody, it is the private sector that provides the job that many of our timing youths will get and like I said earlier, over population is increasing daily and the middle class which is the younger age is jobless hence more travail and if most of them get jobs they will be gainfully employed by the local manufacturing companies.
“The local manufacturing companies also because they sale our product genuinely their productivity will increase. I can bet to check from the data that I got, in recent times hardly are most of the local manufacturing reaching 40% production capacity utilization which under such an economy it will be difficult.
“Two, smuggling of products will be reduced to the barest minimum, all of us know the effect of smuggling on any economy.
“Thirdly, many investors will come into our country because there is no the fear of counterfeiting of the manufactured products in Nigeria will be reduced to barest minimum.
These are a few of the example that can impact greatly on our economy”.
The Advocacy Programme:
“The product will be launched first in our economic capital, Lagos and that is the place where most of our imports comes in and it is a deliberate attempt to involve the importers of goods because the PAM stamp or sticker will be provided here, when we are sure of the quality of goods that have arrived, then we give you the stamp base on the number of goods that we inspected. So we want to engage the importer of these goods for direct retail into our markets so that if they have the stamp and we will also use the jingle to convince consumers and so on.
“So we are targeting Lagos first which is one of the most popular state in the country, then we follow with Kano, then Port Harcourt and we will come to Abuja being our administration capital which is been populated on daily basis so that consumers here will know what is up for them to have value for their money then we will follow other states.
“Eventually we will go to all the states in the country. Even making the sensitization in the various languages in the various states so that even the common man in our hinter lands will know because the tendencies of the counterfeiters and fakers is when we put more pressure on them in the urban areas they migrate to the rural areas where they think the information has not reached”.
Final Word:
The Director, further advised both consumer and manufacturers on need to make use of the Product Authentication Mark for the overall benefit of the nation.
“First to the Nigerian Consumer, you can see how our economy is, our decision to buy right will improve our economy, you don’t just give your hard earned money or throw it out buying a sub-standard or counterfeiting product that will not last long. Make a deliberate decision to buy right by buying a quality goods and it will last long.
“To the manufacturer of goods particularly those who are in Nigeria, even the importers, we are not sub-standard human beings, so why bringing substandard goods to ourselves and we even tell people because they don’t want to disobey the international community or WTO they even put on the product package for export only, they cannot use it. Why export to us? Is because we say we want it and that means we are calling ourselves substandard people. So to the local manufacturers, you don’t need to be changing your mode day in day out.
“Your products will not be easily counterfeited and hence you have the right products in the market and I have come to know that most of them when they come to the market, they do market survey of their products, the volume in the market is far up way the volume they have produced, so where is the excess volume coming from? It means somebody is counterfeiting and most a time the counterfeiting products are substandard.
“So with this it will help them automatically also with our jingles and adverts and sensitization, we are reducing their cost of adverts, we are advertising for them to scan before you buy and the Nigerian people I know are intelligent people, we want good things for ourselves that will make our economy above for the manufacturer and the consumer to be enhanced,” he said.
