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Stakeholders call for sustainable consumption of recycled products

Guidelines

By Angela Okisor
Lagos, March 22, 2020 (NAN) Stakeholders in the nation’s recyclable products business have called for regulatory guidelines to promote sustainable consumption of recycled products in the country.

The stakeholders said that steps toward attaining the benchmarks set up by the United Nations on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) concerning production and consumption of recycled products by the year 2030 had been identified.

The stakeholders made the call in Lagos at the just concluded forum organised by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to commemorate Consumer Rights Day.

They said adopting the principles was vital for sustainability and protection of Nigerian consumers and the nation’s economy.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, was quoted as urging the stakeholders to be committed to a broad-based engagement to further promote the framework.

Ehanire, who was represented by Mrs Celine Onunkwo, a Deputy Director in the Federal Ministry of Health, said all hands should be on deck to enable the country achieve the set goals.

He said guidelines for sustainable consumption of goods and services should be strictly adhered to.

According to him, it will help to minimise the negative impact on the environment for the benefit of current and future generations.

Mr Babatunde Irukera, The Chief Executive Officer, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, said the sustainable consumption initiative must be a tripartite approach – the government, business operators as well as consumers.

“Joint collaboration will change the narrative to one that will not only safeguard the environment, but also enhance the welfare of consumers.

“Consumers have a right to sustainable environment and government, businesses and consumers play a vital role in ensuring the environment is sustained,” he said.

The FCCPC boss urged consumers to be assertive by ensuring that their rights were not infringed upon.

He said the government would form a taskforce of both public and private sector to promote aggressive campaign to encourage consumers to recycle and purchase recyclable products.

He said the long-term plan would encouraged the manufacturer to invest in more eco-friendly packaging materials.

Part of the resolutions reached at the forum included the promotion and use of international health standards to improve land and soil quality as well as promote awareness on the benefit of environmental, social and economically sustainable consumption to preserve the environment now and the future.

The participants resolved to promote adequate labelling with respect to specific sustainable claims, deploy appropriate technology to encourage environmentally friendly products and services to avoid waste, e.g. recyclable materials.

Participants were drawn from packaged food-drinks, water and container producing companies and other stakeholders in recycling materials value chain, among others.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the discussions on sustainable environment is not new.

It received attention in 1992 at the United Nations’ Conference on Environment and Development where it was concluded that non-commitment to sustainable consumption was a major cause of environmental degradation globally, poverty and environmental imbalances. (NAN)
AO/TÁ
Edited by Tajudeen Atitebi

Destruction

Lagos, Feb. 4, 2020 (NAN) The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) says it has destroyed substandard mobile phone accessories worth N480 million.

Its Director-General, Osita Aboloma, made this known at the destruction of the accessories in Epe, Lagos, on Tuesday.

Aboloma, represented by Mr Obiora Manafa, Director, Inspectorate, Compliance and Directorate of SON, said that the organisation was on top of its game to ensure that substandard goods did not find their ways into the Nigerian markets.

He said that the mobile phone accessories were seized by SON for not meeting up with the required standards.

Aboloma said the move was to serve as deterrent to unscrupulous importers who indulged in illicit trade to short-change unsuspecting consumers of their hard-earned money spent purchasing these goods.

The SON director-general stressed that the safety of lives and property of Nigerians was of great importance to the organisation.

“We are here today to destroy some products that are dangerous, and we do not want them to enter the markets.

“They are mobile phone accessories and they are fake, the major brands such as Samsung, Techno, Infinix, Huawei and lots of others. We seized these items late last year.

“We seized them from a commercial warehouse in Lagos, but the products are not owned by the owner of the warehouse.

“We subjected these products to laboratory analysis and they all failed,” he said.

According to him, importers of the substandard mobile accessories have committed an offence by faking these known brands.

Aboloma said that the negative impact on the investment of the original brand owners was huge.

“First, they have contravened the law of  the country.  They faked known brands and when we showed these products to the original brand owners, they denied ownership which means that they are fake brands.

“We also went further to do the analysis and they all failed the test. We are also looking at these accessories from two aspects which include the economic and safety points of view.

“The economic point is that the accessories you buy will not last more than a week, and this to us, do not make economic sense, because you do not get value for the money spent.

“The safety aspect is that these accessories pose serious threat to the users. When we tested the insulation parameters of these products, they all failed woefully.

“The IEC standards of power states that the minimum power you get from these products should be 1000 mega ohms, but the values we got after testing gave only 60 mega ohms.

“So, it is as bad as using naked wires, because it is not preventing any flow of current, exposing the users to electric shocks and can even burn houses,” he added.

Aboloma noted that SON could not allow these products to enter the Nigerian market, saying the products were destroyed after obtaining a court order.

“These products are valued over N480 million. We are not happy burning these products because it is a loss to owners.

“The owners have spent so much money to import these products and the whole investment is going into flames.

“It is even a drain on the national economy and nobody is happy about that, but we have our primary responsibility to protect lives and property of Nigerians.

“Life supersedes everything and we are not going to allow these products into the markets,” he said.

The director-general said SON was still on the trail of the importers of the goods with no economic value, pointing out that the agency would stop at nothing until it got them prosecuted.

Also, at the event, the Head, Enforcement, Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC), Lagos Office, Charles Amudipe, commended SON for its fight against substandard goods in the country, noting that the counterfeited products were not fit for use.

“At NCC, we deal with infringing materials, piracy and all the likes and just like these products, we are having here.

“They are counterfeited and they are not fit for the end users. What SON is doing today is a huge leap, that is the fight against counterfeit.

“People that have worked hard, invested heavily and laboured to put these goods in the market will not reap the benefits of their investment, if SON allowed these substandard accessories into the markets.

“So, what SON has done today has contributed immensely to the growth of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of Nigeria economy,” he said.

Amudipe assured Nigerians that the Federal Government was working hard to ensure that consumers got value for their hard earned money spent on goods and services.(NAN)

AO/GOK

Edited by Olagoke Olatoye