The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has called for multi-sectorial cooperation by stakeholders towards achieving standardisation for services and products across the country.
Mallam Farouk Salim, Director-General of SON, made this appeal during an address at a one-day Stakeholders Forum held in Awka.
Tagged, “Building Confidence, Value in Local Products via Standardisation,’ the summit attracted stakeholders across disciplines.
According to Salim, there is a need for other agencies involved in the task of ensuring standards to partner with the agency to achieve better results.
The SON boss, who was represented at the event by Mr Papaye Don-Pedro, Director, Anambra Regional Operations said the federal government’s policy that uncertified products should not be sold in the country must be supported.
Salim harped on the imperative for industrialists to adhere to the Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) which requires periodic factory visit/inspection of local industries by SON.
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“The scheme combines all the processes involved in conformity assessment; inspection, standardisation, and testing, product sampling, and quality control audits using the relevant Nigeria Industrial Standard as reference in SON laboratories,” he said.
Chief Bede Obayi, Director, National Metrology Institute, SON, Enugu, called on industrialists to ensure that their measurement tools are accurate to avoid production of substandard products.
He said non-compliance to measurements also resulted in building collapse, saying that SON target was for Nigeria manufacturers to produce for the global markets.
Chief Emeka Duru, Senior Special Assistant to the DG of SON, in a remark said that Anambra State is a host to businesses, commerce and smallholder industries and giant manufacturing firms.
He said the organisation was in the state to extend its regulatory dragnet with a view of capturing the immediate environs and the business communities.