The Director-General, Standards
Organisation of Nigeria, and President of the Africa Organisation for
Standardisation, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, has said consumers have a critical
role to play in the quest to rid the continent of substandard products.
Odumodu said in a statement issued at the
end of ARSO’s forum in Kigali, Rwanda, that consumers had right to good
and quality products and should at every point of purchase demand for
only goods that met international standards.
According to him, one of the ways to deal
with the influx of substandard goods into the continent is for
consumers to always insist on standards and demand for their rights.
He added that this would go a long way in eradicating the scourge of substandard goods on the continent.
“Standardisation is a driver for
improving Africa’s competitiveness. ARSO will continue to drive
initiatives that would support its mandate and protect the overall
interest which is to ensure consumers protection and rights to standard
products,” he said
Odumodu urged developing economies to invest in high standard for both local and export products.
He said Africa held a demographic
advantage over the other continents, and so should worry about consumer
rights, adding that consumer participation in African standardisation
processes was critical.
According to Odumodu, the Global
Competitiveness Index identifies majority of African countries as among
the least competitive in the world.
He noted that the continent needed to make headway in many areas in order to set itself on a sustainable growth.
“The other concern is that Africa’s
external trade orientation in primary goods and commodities majorly in
agriculture and extractive industry remain its big challenge and has
made it impossible to benefit from trade liberalisation to the same
extent as other regions,” he said.
He stated that ARSO had initiated a
programme called ARSO Consumer Committee, currently being hosted by the
Sudanese Standards and Metrology Organisation.
The committee, he said, would focus on
involving consumers in standards development activities through their
representation at the national, regional, continental and international
levels.
He added,“The aim is to aid the
standardisation processes, the belief, nonetheless, is that it is
important for consumers to participate in them. The more active
consumers are in developing standards, the more likely it is that
products and services meet their needs.
“One of the challenges we have today is
that, if a consumer sees a product, he does not even check if the
product is harmful or not. This is not the same situation you find with
people in Europe and America. I think the Nigerian consumers must begin
to make that transition and we want to work with the media to ensure
that communication is effected.
“We believe that a strong continental
body will be able to fight the powerful economic forces that are
invading Africa rather than on a country to country basis. “Working
under the continental system, we will be able to protect those small and
weak countries that do not have any form of infrastructure and if you
look at Nigeria for example, most of our neighbours do not have standard
bodies and whatever we feel we have achieved in Nigeria, is not
available in those countries.”
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