The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) have clarified concerns surrounding the launch of the SON\u2013NADDC Vehicle Conformity Assessment Programme (VehCAP), particularly issues related to public sensitisation and the handling of vehicles without certification at the nation\u2019s ports.<\/p>\n
In a joint statement issued on behalf of the Federal Government, the Director-General\/Chief Executive of SON, Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwunonso Okeke, and his counterpart at NADDC, Otunba Oluwemimo Joseph Osanipin, emphasised that the government remains committed to safeguarding lives and ensuring quality standards for goods entering the country.<\/p>\n
They explained that VehCAP is not an entirely new regulatory regime but an enhancement of existing conformity assessment frameworks. <\/p>\n
The programme, they noted, is designed to improve efficiency, safety, transparency, and service delivery within the automotive importation and production value chain.<\/p>\n
The agencies reassured stakeholders that the initiative focuses primarily on pre-shipment verification of both new and used vehicles to ensure compliance with applicable Nigerian standards. However, they stressed that transitional and complementary measures have been put in place to prevent disruptions to trade.<\/p>\n
According to the statement, vehicles arriving in Nigeria without SON\u2013NADDC VehCAP certification will not be stranded or arbitrarily stopped at the ports. Instead, such vehicles will proceed through the normal customs clearance process. Importers will then be required to present them for mandatory destination inspection and in-country conformity verification at designated testing centres. Upon successful verification, the appropriate clearance documentation will be issued to enable registration and licensing.<\/p>\n
The agencies added that the core objective of VehCAP is to protect lives, ensure product quality, and enforce compliance with national standards, especially given the safety risks associated with substandard vehicle imports.<\/p>\n
They also highlighted the importance of stakeholder engagement and public awareness, noting that the programme\u2019s launch marks the beginning of a nationwide sensitisation campaign targeting importers, dealers, regulators, and the general public.<\/p>\n
As part of the rollout strategy, SON and NADDC announced a 90-day transition period upon full commencement of the programme. During this window, vehicles imported without VehCAP certification will still qualify for in-country conformity assessment, allowing importers time to align with pre-shipment verification requirements.<\/p>\n
The statement further noted that destination verification provisions will remain available for non-compliant imports where necessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) have clarified concerns surrounding the launch of the SON\u2013NADDC Vehicle Conformity Assessment Programme (VehCAP), particularly issues related to public sensitisation and the handling of vehicles without certification at the nation\u2019s ports. In a joint statement issued on behalf of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9993,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9992\/revisions\/9993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}