If there is anything the National Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO want, it is to see the Standards Organization of Nigeria, SON, double its efforts to rid the markets of fake imported spare parts into Nigeria.
The stakeholders in the nation’s automotive industry says they are always having problems with their vehicles due to fake vehicle spare parts in the country.
The Zonal Chairman, South-West of the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) Alhaji Ganiyu Salami in a chat with newsmen said the SON had little to do to control the situation because they cannot identify which is genuine and fake.
Alhaji Salami pointed out that the influx of fake parts had led to poor maintenance of the vehicles as all the importers of spare parts bring in fake spare parts into the country..
He appealed to the government to ensure that they monitor the quality of products coming into the country, just as he lamented that his members were the worst hit when it comes to fake parts importation.
For proper checks and balances, the NARTO leader suggested that there was urgent need for the creation of a similar agency that would assist SON in the line of their duties.
He said “Part of the challenges we have is the poor maintenance of the vehicles. Again, all the importers of spare parts bring in fake spare parts and the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) has little to do there because maybe they cannot identify which is genuine and fake”.
“We appeal to the Federal Government to put in place a body that should look into all these things apart from SON because SON covers so many things but if there is a singular organization that will look into the spare parts imported into the country, it will help us”, Salami added.
Apart from the issue of fake spare parts, Alhaji Salami equally advised the government to pay more attention to the roads as most the roads were in a state of disrepair.
Although, Salami applauded the present government for their efforts but maintained that their best was not good enough.
” We suffer the consequences of these bad roads. By the time you carry passengers and goods, the interest of the passengers is that you take him to where he is going but the goods delivered also but the wear and tear of the vehicles is very enormous, we appeal to the Federal and State Governments because in Lagos state, the government is trying in the areas of road development”.
According to Salami, NARTO as a responsible association had been cooperating with other road transport agencies such as the FRSC, police, VIO, Federal and State Ministries of Transportation amongst others to see that the road is safe for all.
He also informed that his members were doing well in the areas of compliance on speed limiter, manifest and other road safety rules.
” As we are in the road transport business, we try as much as possible to sensitize ourselves about the necessity of making our vehicles road-worthy. This is why most of the vehicles you see on the roads are averagely roadworthy despite the absence of the Vehicle Inspection Officers,VIO on the road. If you observe, you will see that we have a very few number of broken down vehicles on the road these days. These are part of the things we have done in order to maintain our vehicles”, Salami said.
