..:: AUTO REPORT AFRICA ::..
Related Articles
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) said it was now ready to apprehend and prosecute producers and sellers of fake vehicle lubricants in the country, this is also as the agency that it would work hand in hand with the Department of Petroleum Resources(DPR) to ensure proper surveillance of the sector.
Director-general of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, who dropped this hint in Abuja at a meeting with members of Lubricant Producers Association of Nigeria (LUPAN), said the latest effort was in line with the agency’s mandate of standardisation and quality assurance.
Odumodu disclosed that SON has “embarked on monitoring and sampling of base oil and to establish a database on blending plants and consumption of base oil in the country to stem the tide of diversion and adulteration of the product.”
While stating that he wants to replicate the feat the agency achieved with the cement sector, the DG emphasised the need to rid the nation’s market of fake lubricant products that are hemorrhaging the economy.
According to him, the collaboration with LUPAN was timely and apt as the expected fallout would not only give bite to its present campaign but would in addition, send a warning signal to those that profit from bad business.
Odumodu, who also disclosed that numerous attempts by the agency in the past to curb the excesses of fake lubricant manufacturers were not as successful because some members of LUPAN were involved in the shady business for survival, submitted that going forward, SON would up its game in this direction by ensuring that all lubricant products in the country were registered for standards compliance.
“One of the reasons we have engine problem is because we feed the engines with adulterated lubricants. We have done some surveillance of the market and we saw that some members of LUPAN are in this kind of wrong business for survival.
“People bring in a lot of used oil into the country and we know what happened to the viscosity of this oil and a lot of them come in from Dubai. We must have a strong collaboration with the DPR and we will have a meeting with the department of government with a view to having a meeting point on how to address the drift,” he added.
“We have to involve a strong surveillance with your support to ensure that those, who have products in the market, are the right products, which means we have the base oil and all the additives that should be in those products.
“We also will expect that every product must be registered; there is lot of counterfeiting; some people use up the cans and then refill it and sell as the original products.
“So, we also need to take up certain responsibilities (some are doing it already) that every product must have a tamper evidence kind of cover, so that when people open your product even if they refill it, they will not be able to spend all the money you are spending in ensuring that you protect your own brands,’’ he said.
While noting that nearly 300 million metric tons of base oil were imported into the country for the production of lubricants annually, Odumodu added that nearly 240 million metric tons were produced by plants in Nigeria while an average 300 million litres of lubricants were consumed in Nigeria annually.
In his response the chairman of the association, Mr Anthony Enukeme, assured the agency of the total support of LUPAN in this crusade.
Enukeme said , “Even our business is suffering because when you are now trying to produce a good one and the fake one is coming in you cannot sell because the fake one is cheaper.’’
…Leadership
