Consumers, key to driving standards –Odumodu

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.”