By Omotayo Edubi
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) will be partnering with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to deal with the menace of fake and sub-standard products in the country.
The SON Director General, Malam Farouk Salim, said this at a sensitisation programme, themed: ‘The Use of Crime Record Information Management System as a tool to fight the influx of fake/sub-standard products and other related crimes in Nigeria,’.
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Salim, who was represented by Dr Omolara Okunola, Director, Inspectorate and Compliance, said the partnership would greatly reduce the high incident of financially related crimes, especially entry of counterfeit products, into the country.
He appreciated the efforts of the NFIU to support SON towards the successful discharge of the agency’s statutory mandate.
Salim added that the agency would give proper training to its staff on special applications to fight crime and get rid of counterfeited, fake and sub-standard products coming into the country.
“Our core mandate is to ensure that products and services locally made or imported into Nigeria meet standards and quality benchmarks in line with global best practices.
“You know, before you can do anything either in production or services, you need to gather the necessary data. And that is why this intervention by NFIU comes in handy for us to do documentation, intelligence reports in order to detect and track dubious importers and fraudsters.
“The collaboration would go a long way to unmask the hidden hands backing importation of substandard goods into the country. This would in turn help check the menace of fake products across the country,’’ Salim said.
The Chief Executive Officer, NFIU, Mr Modibbo HammahTukur, stressed that the influx of fake and sub-standard products into the country would be controlled via effective collaborative efforts and information sharing among the relevant government agencies.
He said NFIU was the central body in Nigeria responsible for receiving, requesting, analysing and disseminating financial intelligence reports on money laundering, terrorist financing and other relevant information.
