Stakeholder tasks FG to prosecute foreigners behind sub-standard products

The Federal Government may have to demonstrate courage in prosecuting foreigners who run foul of the new Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Act prohibiting import and manufacture of substandard products to nip the act in the bud.
Speaking at the SON 2017 management retreat held in Lagos, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former commissioner of justice and attorney-general of Plateau State, Professor Dakas C. J.Dakas,  said such action would send the right signal to the different quarters as to the seriousness of the government to protect its citizens and economy from dubious businessmen.
He said since nobody is above the law, those found to have erred regarding products counterfeiting should be brought to book since Nigerians in other countries are not placed above the law of those countries.
“There are Nigerians all over the world and some of them are in Chinese prisons and elsewhere and here you find that when foreigners are involved, you don’t really accord the necessary investigations and prosecution. In some cases, the sense of urgency required in sending the message to these foreigners that they are not above the law and can trample on Nigerian laws and get away with it is not there,” he said.
Dakas who also served as director of research at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) said the law was indeed a welcome development in the light of the fact that sub-standardisation had become a major problem in the country, adding that it constitutes a great risk to life and economy of Nigeria.
He said with the new SON act, that those who fake products would know that it was no longer business as usual, as punitive sanctions awaited them.