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The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has discovered counterfeit electrical cables and wires valued at N30.5m during a crackdown on major markets in Ekiti State.
Acting on intelligence, the SON said it conducted the operation after learning that some vendors were selling inferior quality cables.
Using a task force, the SON closed down many shops and confiscated the substandard products.
Engineer Joel Aboyeji, representing SON Inspectorate and Compliance Department Director Pius Manji, stated that the raid aimed to rid the markets of substandard cables and wires to prevent their circulation.
Manji expressed concern that the importer was producing counterfeit versions of well-known brands in order to mislead the public.
He criticized the negative impact of such actions on local manufacturers and investments in the sector, as well as the potential danger to households from substandard products that could pose a fire hazard.
He also said that SON would seize the cables and wires and take legal action against electrical dealers who sell substandard products in the market.
Last year, SON's Director General, Farouk Salim, linked most fire outbreaks in Nigeria to imported electrical cables.
