Steel Manufacturers Threaten to Sack 20,000 Workers

• Steel Manufacturers Threaten to Sack 20,000 Workers

The Galvanised Iron and Steel Manufacturers’ Association has threatened to sack 20,000 workers if the Standards Organisation of Nigeria and other government agencies fail to curb the importation of substandard galvanised roofing sheets into the country.

In a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday, GISMA said if the challenges confronting steel manufacturing in the country were not addressed in 30 days, its members might be forced to offload about 20, 000 workers into the labour market.

Spokesman for GISMA, Mr Lateef Bello, in the statement, urged SON to tighten the noose on importers of substandard galvanised roofing sheets in compliance with the Industrial Roadmap Revolution of the government.

Bello noted that despite the presence of state coordinators nationwide, it was saddening that the country’s nooks and crannies were being flooded with substandard roofing sheet products.

He said, “We are aware that the Standard Organisation of Nigeria held a press conference last week and unveiled its successful seizure of substandard aluminium sheets worth over N200m from various aluminium companies in Uyo.

“SON in its address further confirmed that the minimum thickness of aluminium roofing sheets is 0.4mm. The substandard products with the quality of 0.25mm were, however, imported into Nigeria at the detriment of unsuspecting members of the public.”

Bello added, “While we commend SON for the efforts made in the seizure of the goods, we are categorically requesting that names of perpetrators of such unpatriotic acts should be made public in order to reflect transparency and accountability.

“It is our expectation that SON should censor some of its officials suspected to be collaborating with smugglers of substandard products by mounting surveillance and detective operational techniques across its branches nationwide.

“Importation of substandard products is tantamount to waging war against the Federal Government’s policies of discouraging the supply of illicit items capable of causing havoc and short-changing the citizenry.”

The GISMA spokesman added that sparing anyone involved in the importation of substandard products amounted to aiding and abetting corruption and exposing the nation to poor infrastructure.