The Standards Organization of Nigeria’s (SON) effort to promote made-in-Nigeria items under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) has received praise from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).
Segun Ajayi-Kadir, the Director-General of MAN, made this statement in Lagos during the official unveiling of the mobile calibration trucks and measurement equipment for SON.
He asserts that market penetration is essential and that, in the absence of it, Nigeria will only be able to observe the 1.4 billion-person market in Africa.
He said this: “One thing all over the world that has been acknowledged is that what we cannot measure, we cannot value. So, for us, today marks a milestone in our quality infrastructure programme in Nigeria. SON is blazing the trail in ensuring that not only our big companies that are located in centres that we can access, but where vehicles can move to remote areas in Nigeria to deliver the measurement service.”
“For us, it is important because we are not only going to ensure the quality and the right quantum of our products, but for buyers to know what they are buying and for the sellers they know what they are selling. It is a win-win situation for us and we have said it over again that it is in our interest to give SON the right support needed.”
The Director General of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, also spoke during the event. He stated that moving forward, the agency would engage in public awareness campaigns to promote and safeguard safety, highlighting how crucial calibration is to raising overall quality of life.
“As we are all aware, the plague caused by substandard products to our nation cannot be over-emphasised as seen in declining foreign exchange, surging unemployment and insecurity. In addition, of course, the closing of factories.”
The head of SON claimed that in order to deal with this issue, his administration has vowed to improve current defenses against shoddy goods nationwide.
In an effort to promote industrialization and the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Nigeria, he also disclosed plans for the standards body to launch a huge calibration service campaign across the nation.
Salim explained that under his leadership, the standards body would be expanding its services through mobile laboratory facilities. He explained that by ingraining the culture of routine equipment calibration, operators in the industry would get it right, lives would be saved, and economic development is assured. Salim made these remarks at the inauguration of mobile calibrate vehicles and measurement equipment in Lagos.
According to him, rural locations would be served by SON’s cutting-edge mobile collaboration services, boosting the country’s economic growth and the advantages of calibrations.
The journey to bring calibration services to MSMEs and other important stakeholders in their locations has been a long but continuous one starting from 2008 to date in SON’s quest to improve the metrology value chain in Nigeria, according to Bede Obayi, Director, Nigeria Metrology Institute (NMI), SON.
According to him, the NMI was created to spread measurement standards and offer traceability and accuracy of measurements to various industries, laboratories, trade and commerce, aviation, oil and gas, agriculture, health, and educational institutions, as well as the automotive, mining, and power sectors.
“This means that metrology is life and life begets all developments and advancements in technology towards better living. The scope of NMI of SON is varied and significant as the sole representative of Nigeria at the International Bureau for Weights and Measures (BIPM) situated in France, for all world metrology matters (scientific and industrial),” he said.
