Anambra industrialists accuse SON of bribery, harassment

DAVID-CHYDDY ELEKE, Awka

Major industrialists in Onitsha and Awka yesterday protested against intimidation, harassment and bribery by the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), accusing it of denying them MANCAP certificate and also deliberating frustration the businesses of those who refused to part with bribe.

The protesters, who own manufacturing facilities in Onitsha and Awka in company of their workers numbering over 250, stormed the SON office in Awka, the Anambra State capital as early as 9.20am, with various placards and barricaded the entry and exit gates of the regulatory agency, chanting provocative songs.

Road users had hectic moments to get to their destinations as vehicular movement was disrupted due to the population of the protesters. This compelled motorists to wait for several hours before they could pass through.

Some of the placards displayed by the protesters had various inscriptions such as, “Standard Organization of Nigeria is corrupt”, “SON stop frustrating indigenous industries for personal gains”, “With SON as presently constituted, there is no hope for a successful campaign against substandard goods”, “President Buhari, your government cannot comfortably work with the present leadership of SON”, “President Buhari, do not allow SON as it is presently constituted to destroy your good plans for indigenous industries”, “Millions of naira are being demanded by SON as condition for issuing MANCAP Certificate”, “Indigenous industries cannot survive under the present leadership of SON”, “Pay bribe to SON or face frustration of business”.

Some of the protesters who chose to speak on condition of anonymity, however, advised President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the activities of SON or have his campaign against corruption dragged into the mud.

Some of the industrialists interviewed charged Nigerian industrialists to rise up to their rights and say no to SON’s outrageous extortion

They also accused SON of being sponsored by foreign companies to destroy indigenous industries, adding that SON must bring back the industrial machines which it uprooted from various factories belonging to D & K Golden City Investment Limited and Bendusco Nigeria Limited.

Addressing newsmen in front of the SON office, spokesman of the companies and Managing Director of D & K Golden City Investment Limited, Mr. Benjamin Nwaizu, alleged that a Director from SON came to Anambra State and demanded some millions of naira as a condition for them to be given the MANCAP Certificate, and that if his company failed to comply that an undisclosed South Korean company which produces the same product would take its place and be issued with MANCAP certificate.

“We suspect that our company’s refusal to offer bribe to the Standard Organizations of Nigeria is the reason why we are being haunted and intimidated by the regulatory agency.

“He kept requesting the amount, but I said we cannot afford it, and he threatened that in the next four months that I would see how our company would go down. He also threatened that non-compliance with the payment of the bribe would subject our factory machines to being uprooted and evacuated in their next visit coupled with all the raw materials and finished products such as shaving sticks, hair brush, tooth brushes, and other personal effects.

“To my great surprise after we failed to pay the requested millions of naira, on 28th and 29th October 2014, the same SON Director invaded my factory with some police men, numbering over twenty and evacuated and uprooted all the machinery found in the premises to an unknown destination.

“Despite the 8th December 2014 Onitsha Magistrate Court ruling that ordered SON to return all the seized machines, SON has refused to abide by the court’s decision which stated that it was not in their power to uproot factory machines.

In his reaction, Mr. Nwaizu, who is also the Managing Director of BENDUSCO International Agency Limited, which manufactures toothbrushes, shoe brushes, and hair brushes, said that what prompted their protest was the same SON director’s threat after the invasion and breaking into our warehouse in Lagos two weeks ago and his consistent threat to return to Onitsha and remove the remaining products in my factory.

Reacting to the protest, an official of SON who addressed the protesters at the gate of the organisation after he rejected the protesters request to come into the office for them to be addressed, Mr.Omeje Veginus Okwudili, said that “SON does not do anything hideous, this is a public office and the office is here to serve Nigerians, the office is here to serve you and I, and SON is only here to drive standards to ensure that quality products and services are delivered to Nigerians, including myself”.