SON moves to cease registration of cloned brands

By Femi Adekoya

Director, DG’s Office (Lagos Operations), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Kabir Mohammed (left); Executive Chairman, General Electric Dealers Association of Nigeria; Charles Nnabuike Odoh; Director General, SON, Farouk A. Salim; President, Alaba International Amalgamated Traders Association, Ichie Fabian Ezeorjika and , Director, Inspectorate and Compliance, SON, Obiora Manafa during the Alaba Amalgamated Traders’ courtesy visit to SON Director General in Lagos…yesterday.<br />PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI<br />

With cloned brands taking a huge chunk of market share and equity from original manufacturers, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) yesterday, read the riot act to promoters of cloned brands in a bid to check fake and substandard goods in the country.

The Director-General, SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, explained that the agency would discourage the registration of any product that has a similar business name with an existing brand or those hidden under the names of successful brands to short-change unsuspecting consumers.

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Salim stated this during a courtesy visit of the Alaba International Amalgamated Traders Association to the SON office in Lagos.

“The issue of cloning brands cannot be handled alone by SON, but going forward, we are going to audit the products we register and certify. Anytime a new product comes and looks similar to another registered product that is already popular in the market, we will try to discourage the registration of that product with such a name, so that other product would be identified properly. This will increase traceability of products not yet in circulation,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Director-General, announced plans to increase its level of engagement with stakeholders in the country, including Alaba International Market, noting that the move by the agency would help protect the interest of the business community while also safeguarding lives and property.

He said the standards body would work with stakeholders to sensitize the business community on the need to ensure safety and standards, warning that unscrupulous individuals would be prosecuted.

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The SON boss added: “We are here to work with them and to make their job easy while also to protect their interest because they are Nigerians employing people and they are doing what needs to be done. We are looking forward to cooperating with them to ensure that every other individual in their association not doing the right thing is encouraged to doing the right thing in the future.”

In his words, “We are inviting stakeholders and the plan is to work together with stakeholders to sensitize and train them on the safety of life and property.

“As for those still breaking the laws, we will enforce our law either by a court or through appropriate regulatory.”

According to him, SON would reach out to the community through sensitization programmes to highlight the negative impacts of substandard goods on the business community.

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“They have promised to work with us and those people who are not doing the right thing would be fished out. The task is for us to continue cooperation, continue openness, and to be fair with each other. We want you to be our eyes on the market. Help us make our work easy because we are out here to make you competitive. Let us work together to make this happen as we would be reaching to everyone in the market,” he said.

Also speaking, the Executive Chairman, Electrical Dealers Association of Nigeria (EDAN), Fabian Ezeorjika, said there is an already existing partnership with SON to achieve a substandard-free market.
He reaffirmed the association’s commitment to working with SON to fish out the bad eggs in the market, saying that the association had formed a Joint Task Force comprising of SON officials and currently running a “buyer beware campaign” in the market.

SON has destroyed a lot of products while some of our members are in court and we are going to increase the level of collaboration with SON because we want to bring an end to substandard goods.

He called on SON to encourage local production, saying that this is the surest way to create wealth and job opportunities for the nation’s teeming youths.

“We need to create a conducive environment for local production. Importation only creates job opportunities for people we import from. We must create a platform to boost local production,” he said.