Nigeria's SON impounds fake textile products in Lagos

01 Nov '13

2 min read

In order to revamp the textile industry of Nigeria and ensure standards, the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) has seized substandard textile products worth Nigerian naira 20 million across different markets in the country’s Lagos city.

According to the head of department of Inspectorate and Compliance of SON, Mr. Bede Obayi, the seizure is a declaration of war against fake textile products circulating in the markets.

Mr. Obayi said the decision to seize these products was in line with the Government's agenda to revamp the textile sector in the country, as most of the textile firms in the country had gone moribund not because of Government’s negligence, but because of inferior cloned products in the markets.

The SON official who led the sanitation exercise said many textile goods, although produced in Nigeria, were sent outside the country to be cloned and were brought back to be sold in the country under the same product name but inferior in quality and lesser in price.

The raid is to raise awareness and alert Nigerians that the country has fabrics produced by Nigerians and these Nigerians should join the fight against importation of indigenous fabrics and look out for the mark of Nigerian Industrial Standards (NIS) on the products, he added.

The SON official said the organization would be carrying out more investigations and find out and locate the culprits behind the circulation of fake textile products in the country, and any product that fails to meet the Mandatory Conformity Assessment Program (MANCAP) would be seized and removed from the Nigerian markets.

Mr. Obayi urged Nigerians to avoid buying substandard textile goods and join in to fight against the practice in order to improve the nation’s economy.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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