 The manufacturers of cosmetic products in Nigeria have been charged to ensure they produce meeting requirements of standards as spelled out in the Nigeria Industrial Standard document and meet compliance to ensure Nigerians have quality and safe products for use. This charge was handed down by the group head Chemical Technology Standard Organization of Nigeria, S.O.N. Tessie Ojomo, while fielding questions from newsmen at a one-day annual conference of cosmetic scientists in Lagos. Plough-Stevenius correspondent Lobh Ikukwe Edokun brings us details in this report. It is a second annual conference of the cosmetic scientists of Nigeria. The event brought together regulators, manufacturers, industrialists, academia, and others. They discussed the future of the industry, fashioning out the way forward in advancing cosmetic standards in Nigeria. It's a really important industry. It's important in terms of health and well-being. And therefore, we want to talk about how we build the future in terms of safety, quality, and we want to be on the world stage. As a cosmetic scientist, Mrs. Abamba says she is pained by the bereavement of raw materials in the industry but hoped that soon as this would be history. If we can source, in a way, source our materials here, purify them and make them available here. So if we're extracting, I don't know, moringa, for instance, we're extracting it, but we're extracting the raw material. We collect the leaves and we export it and then it comes back as moringa oil. We don't want to do that. We want to be able to do all the extractions and the testing here. There's no gain saying the fact that one major hurdle for this sector is standardisation and issues of fake and quarry. The standard organisation of Nigeria SON, however, says it's on top of it. Inspectors go out and inspect companies producing cosmetic products and they see that their raw material process and finished products meet requirements. But when we have situations of not complying, it depends on the gravity of that non-compliance. Some are very minor ones. We write them and warn them, guide them and direct them on how to improve to do quality products. Everything is about information. When people are rightly informed, they will do the right things. They will simply cut corners because they want to make more money. But it is also good for you to know that the end consumers are also a stakeholder and they must be given awesome products. She encouraged Nigerians to allow the standard organisation of Nigeria SON to see or know anyone producing substandard products so that the industry could be sanitised. From Legas, love Ikuku Uyedukum. Plus TV News.