The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has shifted its focus to online traders, as it seeks to fight substandard goods from proliferating Nigerian markets.
This was disclosed on Friday by the Head of Department, Consumer Complaint of SON, Mosunmola Samuel, to journalists.
Samuel said that the organisation was working to ensure that online vendors complied with the country’s standards when importing goods.
She said, “Most of these online dealers import their products as personal effects. The e-commerce in the Nigerian community is becoming huge and many steps have been taken for its promotion, but there are still lots to be done to make it operate in accordance with standards in the country.
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“This is why we are working assiduously on partnering with online merchants to ensure that Nigeria is not a destination for substandard goods.
“We get the feedback through the head of our public relations and follow up with directives to online merchants to stop sales of such product immediately we get a complaint and they will pull it down.
“You know with online marketing, you don’t need to have a shop or selling bulk, all you need is just a hand full of those products and you are already in business.
“The world all over is about standards and we are working tirelessly to educate Nigerians so as to be abreast with global trend.
“On e-commerce, we have so many operating on different platforms and if these products are not registered with our product registration, it means that they are not complying with the requirements of our act.
“So we need to check and find out where these products are coming from and for every products coming into the country, there is always a major channel.
“We are happy when consumers give us feedbacks which show their level of confidence on the organisation.
“We are proud for the trust in us to start our consumer protection mandate as it also helps us develop and introduce new standards.”