Nigerian action aimed at encouraging local tyre manufacture

Nigeria’s official body in charge of standards, certification and inspection says it hopes that the seizure and destruction of used and substandard tyres will encourage major manufacturers to resume tyre production within the country. Benin City-based newspaper the Sunday Observer reported on November 6 that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) had destroyed more than 60 truckloads of these tyres, and SON director of enforcement Louis Njoku told the newspaper the action was taken to encourage companies such as Dunlop and Michelin to relocate their industries back to Nigeria.

“We told you that when we discover these substandard tyres, we will destroy them and we are destroying them now,’’ he said. “The manufacturers will be encouraged to come back and manufacture.” Njoku also gave assurances that people dealing in substandard tyres will be prosecuted.

On October 13, the SON inaugurated an 18-member committee to look into the issue of substandard tyres in Nigeria. Agency director-general, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, stated that the committee’s purpose was to tackle the high number of accidents occurring in Nigeria as a result of tyres that did not meet national standard specifications. Dr. Odumodu explained that many tyres imported into the country come from colder regions and were not fit for use in Nigeria’s extreme high temperatures.