BusinessDay 31 Oct 2017

16
BUSINESS DAY
Lafarge empowers
geologists for
Nigeria project on
mining, minerals
exploitation
C002D5556
COMPANIES & MARKETS
SON shuts 4 steel plants for non-compliance with standards
Odinaka Anudu
Standards Organisation
of Nigeria
(SON) has shut four
steel companies
​The
across the country
for non-compliance with
requirements of the Nigeria
Industrial standards (NIS 117)
and global best practices. It also
warned that any steel manufacturer
caught circumventing
quality assurance requirements
henceforth would be prosecuted
in line with the SON Act
14 of 2015.
The SON said the four firms
were among those the agency
investigated and conducted
integrity tests recently on.
The director general, SON,
Osita Aboloma, gave the warning
at a meeting with steel stakeholders
in Lagos. Aboloma said
compliance with quality and
standards would guarantee local
and international patronage
of steel products manufactured
in Nigeria.
He advised steel makers
not to undermine one another
through the production of substandard
steel reinforcement
bars under the name and code
of rival firms and competitors.
Such act, according to him, was
detrimental to the unsuspecting
end-users who would and use
the products.
Aboloma also warned them
to desist from tampering with
any consignment put on hold
by officials of the agency for
suspected infractions during
investigation and quality verifications,
stressing that such acts
by anyone in the steel or other
sectors would be prosecuted.
He reiterated the agency’s
commitment to ensuring the
safety of lives and property of
Nigerians, part of which informed
its recent nationwide
monitoring of steel production.
The SON boss expressed concern
over the non-compliance
of key stakeholders in the industry,
maintaining that the agency
would stop at nothing to bring
sanity to Nigeria’s steel sector.
“Players producing without
regards to NIS 117 will not be
tolerated.” he said.
​According to him, the
federal government has been
working tirelessly to support
local manufacturing for export
in order to improve foreign
exchange earnings, assuring
manufacturers of SON’s resilience
and doggedness to protect
genuine local production from
unfair competition.
He disclosed that steps
were underway to harmonise
standards for steel production
across West Africa, stressing
that this would avail steel manufacturers
the opportunity to
produce and export to different
countries within the region.
​The SON boss urged steel
manufacturers to imbibe the
culture of self-regulation and
monitoring, saying that it would
help to prevent standards infractions.
“It has been done in
other sectors and would go a
long way to eliminating faking
and production of substandard
steel products. It will also increase
the collaboration among
stakeholders and regulators as
well as increase the confidence
of consumers.
I urge you to be quality vanguards,
if you see something
Tuesday 31 October 2017
unwholesome, say something
to SON,” he averred.
​In his remarks, Femi Gbadegun,
sectoral executive, Basic
Metal Group of the Manufacturers
Association of Nigeria
(MAN), said the association was
ready to imbibe the culture of
producing quality steel bars to
meet the NIS standards. He also
restated the association’s commitment
to partner with SON to
rid Nigeria of substandard products.
“We are also taking steps
to ensure that our members
comply with standards. We are
partners in progress and if you
find any manufacturer that falls
short of standards, take punitive
measures,” he admonished.
RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta
Having agreed with
Federal Government
effort to diversify the
nation’s economy
from oil-based to non-oil structured
with priority on solid
minerals and agriculture Lafarge
Africa has trained and equipped
42 geologists, mining engineers
and geo-scientists ahead of
Nigeria projects on mining and
solid minerals exploitation for
economic growth and development.
BusinessDay reports that
the skills and empowerment
training was oraginsed as a
follow-up action to the Minister
of Mines and Steel Development,
Kayode Fayemi’s
working visits to Lafarge Africa
and Dangote Cement plants
in Ogun state earlier this year
where he instructed the two cement
giants to assist Nigeria in
her effort to diversify economy
towards solid minerals through
effective training of workforce
in public and private sector.
Consequently, Lafarge
Africa, the leading cement and
building solutions provider,
selected its first set of trainees
from the Geological Services
Department of Ogun State
Ministry of Commerce and
Industry, who were trained on
exploration, draining, planting,
soil test, solid minerals
blasting, exploitation of minerals,
among other processing,
and production of limestone
into cement.
Speaking at the presentation
of certificates to the trainees
held at Government Secretariat
in Abeokuta on Wednesday,
Folashade Ambrose-Medebem,
Lafarge Africa Director, Communications,
Public Affairs
and Sustainable Development,
declared that the effort was
undertaken as a follow-up to Cement
Professional Technicians
Programme, a three-year development
programme for young
science-oriented school leavers
selected from its host communities
across the federation.
She said, “We are committed
to the promotion of local content
and the development of local
capacity.