STANDARDS ORGANISATION OF NIGERIA DESTROYS GAS CYLINDERS, TYRES WORTH ABOUT #300M.
The Director General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Mr Faruk Salim on Monday morning led a team of officials from his Organisation (SON), the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement and Safety Agency and the Nigeria Copyright Commission to supervise the destruction of different sizes of gas cylinders and vehicle tyres at the Amuwo Odofin warehouse of the Organisation.
The DG declared that the cylinders were seized because some of them were contrabands and some were below the required standard gauge for cooking gas cylinders and may likely explode during use and so for the sake of public safety they were seized to avert such an occurrence. On the issue of seized tyres , Mr. Salim said that the tyres are new and standard, but because the importers tried to circumvent the law by stuffing the smaller tyres into the larger ones, the integrity of the tyres have been compromised, they do this because if they are to import 5 containers of 1000 tyres for example, they try to save cost by stuffing the tyres and putting them in 1 container. This action he says damages the tyres and could cause them to burst if they are used and while the vehicles are in motion. He warned that tyres are not meant to be stuffed in other tyres and so people should stop the act.
He lamented that their warehouse is not properly guarded as sometimes, the security details are overwhelmed and some seized items stolen by miscreants. Mr. Salim made a case for the return of SON to the Ports to make their job easy as it is practically impossible to monitor all items that have been cleared at the Ports.
The DG stressed that the Organisation is prepared for the take of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement that will soon take off, he also revealed that all the seizures came in about seven containers and have a value of about Three Hundred Million Naira (#300,000,000.00) as he added that they also have a heap of seized substandard wires waiting for the final judgment at the court before destruction.
The spokesperson for the National Environment Standards and Regulations Enforcement and Safety Agency (NESRESA), Katherine Omolehinse said that the destruction of the items followed the proper standard for the destruction of items and that the recycling of the destroyed items into other products will also be monitored, she said that hitherto most seized items were burned, but modern practice dictates that you convert or recycle them to new products for environmental reason.
Mr. Charles Amudipe, head of enforcement of the Nigerian Copyright Commission in his contribution said that some of the destroyed gas cylinders and tyres are counterfeited and so not fit for use and the actions of counterfeiting have also been taken by the counterfeiters to rob both the Government and the copyright owners their proper revenue, hence his Commission’s endorsement of the destruction of these items.
