SON discovers substandard African prints ‘Atampa’ in Kano

Standards Organisation of Nigeria’s Surveillance, Intelligence and Monitoring (SIM) Unit swooped on various warehouses in the ancient city of Kano stocked with suspected substandard African prints popularly known as “Atampa”.
The team with a detachment of security agents sealed 21 warehouses stocked with textile materials worth hundreds of millions of naira, putting them on hold until all relevant laboratory tests are concluded and analysed to confirm the quality Speaking to newsmen after the raid, the Coordinator of the SIM Unit, Mr.
Isa Suleiman stated that the owners of the warehouses were flouting the law by stocking suspected substandard African prints that do not meet with the requirements of the relevant Nigeria Industrial Standards (NIS).
In a press statement by the Public Relation Officer (PRO) SON, Mariam Samson, the initial surveillance revealed that the textiles being sold as African prints were materials suspected to have been manufactured with up to about 70 percent polyester and about 30 percent cotton.
“Some, according to Suleiman, were suspected to be completely polyester which is at variance with the specifications of the Nigeria Industrial Standards.
The SIM Coordinator stressed that SON will not allow the proliferation of substandard textile materials in the country pointing at the negative effects such activities have had on the once buoyant textile industry in Nigeria and the attendant job losses.
He further revealed “that the textile products found in the warehouses were deemed not to have passed through the legal channels of entry but rather believed to have been either smuggled into the country or shipped in under false declarations at the ports of entry”.
Similarly, at the second largest phone market in Nigeria located at Beirut Road, Kano, the SIM Unit team also sealed up six shops identified to be selling suspected substandard, counterfeit and unregistered cell phones and evacuated the products for further laboratory tests and analysis.
Some of the phone brands identified to be unregistered, possibly substandard and counterfeit and thus evacuated from the shops were Infemix, TKK, Siccoo, Hom, and H-Mobile etc.
The SON SIM team also Offor Plaza at the Onitsha main market where it sealed up several shops dealing in suspected substandard and cloned phones, evacuating same for further tests and analysis.
Mr.
Suleiman disclosed that all consignment of phones to be imported into Nigeria must mandatorily undergo the processes of SON offshore conformity assessment (SONCAP) and the electronic product registration schemes.
In his words “Products like GSM phones need to also be tested for radiation to ensure they meet acceptable levels stipulated by the standards”.
The SON, Surveillance, Investigation and Monitoring (SIM) unit is a rapid intervention team inaugurated by the SON Chief Executive, Osita Aboloma recently to complement other departments in the on-going war against substandard goods in the country to rid the nation of low quality and life endangering products.