•’How to identify genuine product’
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has destroyed four containers stocked with substandard electric cables.
The Director, Inspectorate and Compliance Department, SON, Obiora Manafa, said the action was part of the agency’s responsibility to protect lives and properties of Nigerians, as well as ensure that the cables do not find their way into the market and the hands of unsuspecting Nigerian consumers.
Manafa, during the destruction exercise in Lagos, said that most fire outbreak in buildings in the country were caused by substandard electric cables that were imported illegally by unscrupulous businessmen.
According to him, the cables, that were intercepted and evacuated from warehouses, failed the safety, performance, and marking requirements as most of them are iron and steel that are copper-coated.
They failed to meet the required maximum conductor resistance of 12 Ohms.
“When the standard says the maximum conductor resistance should be 12 Ohms, someone will go and import cables with the conductor resistance of 1000Ohms or 1,500 Ohms. The cable volume will resist the flow of current and when the flow of current is being resisted, it will generate heat, and from the heat, it will generate fire.
“Also some of the cables these importers claim are 100 per cent copper are not, if you see the one giving you the colour of copper, some of the cables are iron and steel, that is why the conductor resistance is very high. Steel will give you a very high conductor resistance, it doesn’t allow a free flow of current inside it and once that restriction is there, it will start generating heat because of friction, which then translates into fire. That is why we will not allow these cables get into the market,” he stressed.
On how to identify genuine cables, Manafa said: “Though some of the imported cables comply with the requirement of SON, it is important for Nigerians to patronise locally produced cables having the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) logo and the SON registration number. They are the best, as they comply swiftly with the standard requirement.
“There are some Nigerians who still go out to fake good ones. At times, they bring in a faked made in Nigerian cable, so when you go to the market, look out for made-in-Nigeria cables with MAN cap logo on it. If you are buying imported cable, look for the ones that have been registered with SON,” he explained.
The Director General of Nigeria Copyright Commission, John Asein, frowned on the substandard cables which had led to the destruction of many lives and properties worth billions of naira.
Asein, who was represented by the Director, Lagos Directorate Office of the commission, Matthew Dada Ojo, said to stop such illegal activities, there is need to step up surveillance and policing the ports, adding that if government puts all processes in place, life and property would be saved in the country.
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