The Standard Organisation of Nigeria, SON, on Tuesday, destroyed substandard tires worth over N50 million in Enugu.
It said that the aim was to save lives of Nigerians and discourage importers from further engaging in acts capable of endangering lives of vehicle owners who might use such tires on their vehicles.
SON’s Director General, Osita Aboloma, who was represented by the SON’s Director, Inspectorate and Compliance Directorate, in the Enugu Zonal office, Engr. Obiora Manata, during the exercise performed at the Emene, Enugu premises of the organisation, said that the SON would not tolerate a situation in which Nigerian importers jeopardise the safety and lives of citizens by importing substandard tires into the country and circulating same in the markets where the unsuspecting vehicle owners would buy and risk their lives and those of other road users.
He said that the SON, working in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service, Police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) and other relevant security agencies, would always make sure that importers are discouraged from bringing into the country substandard materials of any type, stressing that Nigeria should not be a dumping ground for substandard products.
Aboloma said: “The tires are substandard, meaning that you are not supposed to use them on your vehicles. It is dangerous to use any of these tires on any vehicle, and that’s why we have brought them out today to destroy them.
“Ordinarily, the tires, as manufactured were not substandard; but because of the act of what we call stuffing and un-stuffing.
“Stuffing is a process in which a tyre is squeezed with mechanical force and rammed inside a slightly bigger tyre; and then another one is forced into the other tyre and it continues like that until you now have about four or five tyres in one. Stuffing affects the tyres in a negative manner and makes them substandard.”
