Leverage emerging auto market, SON urges lubricant Stakeholders

Stakeholders in the lubricant subsector have been admonished to take advantage of the emerging automobile market in Nigeria to expand the scope of their operations.

The Director General, SON, Mr. Osita Aboloma, made this appeal at a meeting with the Lubricant Producers Association of Nigeria (LUPAN) in Lagos.

Aboloma said that the plea became necessary in view of the Federal Government’s quest to diversify the economy, adding that lubricants and allied products were critical to boosting Nigeria’s industrialisation drive.

While assuring LUPAN members of necessary support, the Director General  read the riot act to unscrupulous dealers who indulge in the act of faking and adulterating established and successful brands to cheat Nigerian consumers, stressing that the new SON Act has given the agency enough powers to deal with them.

“SON will not sit back and watch some unscrupulous people threaten the life of the industry. We will not sit down and watch these people pull down the investments of genuine manufacturers or importers. As long as you are law abiding, we will be there to protect you”, he said.

According to him, SON classifies lubricants as life threatening and life endangering, adding that the effect is far reaching and the Nation cannot industrialise without quality lubricants.

Mr. Aboloma described the lubricant subsector as formidable partners and stakeholders in the Nigerian project stressing that the meeting was called to strategize on flushing out the bad eggs among them.

“In line with the government’s mantra of ease of doing business, we have become business facilitators, expected to create the enabling environment for the ease of doing genuine business. We however are not unmindful that some people may engage in criminality, which we are ready to confront head on”, he said.

“Standardisation and ease of doing business do not encourage criminality, faking and adulteration of certified products, thus our partnership with the stakeholders in the industry to fashion out a way to sanitize the lubricant subsector. We must imbibe international best practices to continually grow the subsector”, he said.

The SON Chief Executive then enjoined stakeholders to support his organization in its quest to rid Nigeria of substandard products in general, urging them to always consult SON for the minimum quality requirements for all products as  outlined in the Nigeria Industrial Standard (NIS).

Also speaking at the event, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ammasco International Limited, Alhaji Mustapha Ado, expressed the association’s commitment to work with SON to sanitise the industry.

He lamented the negative effect of such challenges as adulteration, faking of established brands in the country, adding that stakeholders were ready to collaborate with SON to address the issue.

Source: ISO