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Tag: Dr Joseph Odumodu

  • SON to certify SMEs for export

    SON to certify SMEs for export

    Concerned about the high  scrutiny given made-in-Nigeria goods at the global market as a result of poor quality and packaging, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has concluded plans to certify Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country to prepare them for export.

    Its Director-General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, explained that this move by SON is intended to end indigeneous goods being rejected in the international market, stressing that the situation brings to losses to the economy.

    He  said this during a courtesy visit  by the National President, Nigerian Association of Chamber of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar to SON in Lagos.

    “We have found that apart from the challenges of funding and poor management facing SMEs, we found out that what makes the SMEs fit for export is not just the product to meet Nigerian standards but also meet international standards. We intend to work with SMEs going forward to build them to international standards,” he said.

    “When you look at the economies of the developed world, they have succeeded in building for the world, so our mantra is to ensure we make made in Nigeria products acceptable all over the world,” he added.

    He said its accredited laboratory is for a specific competence, which boasts of carrying chemical and biological testing for agricultural products in the country.

    “It is not everything we have got so far, but if we have waited for Nigeria’s accreditation body, it would have taken us about two years to achieve the accreditation of our laboratory. This is the first time a Nigerian laboratory is being accredited and it is something worth celebrating because it saves us a lot of cost from our goods being destroyed and rejected,” he said.

    According to him, Nigeria has entered a phase which he called the map for world quality due to its latest accredited laboratory, urging SMEs to take advantage of this golden opportunity to push their products to the world.

    “I hope that this collaboration we have started today we take us to new levels.  I also recalled a hand of fellowship to NACCIMA to forward the profile of 100 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). We intend to certify 50 SMEs to ISO 9001 quality management systems,” he stressed.

     

     

     

     

  • SON offers free certificates for SMEs

    SON offers free certificates for SMEs

    In its bid to ensure that Nigerian products are globally competitive, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has pledged to carry out the certification of products of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for free.

    The Director General of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, made this pledge in Lagos  while addressing a World Press Conference on the State of Standards in Nigeria.

    In his address themed: ‘Made in Nigeria for the world – a transformational imperative,’ he lamented that despite that there are well over 20,000 registered SMEs in the country, most products in the country cannot compete favourably in the global market due to non-conformity to standards.

    He also lamented that most small scale enterprises have refused to be certified considering the cost but said the organization would carry out the certification process free of charge henceforth.

    This, he said would enable operators in the sector to be a player in the global market.

    He said for Nigeria to attain its vision 20: 2020 ambition of becoming one of the twenty most developed economy in the world, its products, where it has comparative and competitive advantage must be able to compete favourable at the world stage, noting that the future of Nigerian trade lies in the hands of indigenous Nigerian firms.

    He said, two of SON’s laboratories in Lekki, Lagos, have been accredited by the United States authority while the construction of SON’s state of the art laboratory in Ogba area of Lagos is near-completion. He said additional fifteen laboratories would be constructed across the country to ensure that products are duly tested and certified to meet international standards and to ensure safety of lives of Nigerians.

    He, said the organization in collaboration with the Consumer Protection Council would early next year push for a bill that will ensure that manufacturers obtain product liability insurance for any product they introduce to the market. This, he said would ensure that insurance companies would be responsible to compensate consumers on products that are injurious to health.

     

    He said SON is ready to collaborate more with SMEDAN , adding other agencies should follow suit.

    The Director General, Small Medium Entreprises Development Association of Nigeria( SMEDAN), Alhaji Umar Bature said standardization in SME sector is a must for all opearator, adding that SMEDAN will not support a compromise standard.

    He said the roles of SMEs cannot be overemphasized in the development of the economy.

    He expressed a delight that SON is offering a free certificates for the operators.

    “ We are delighted that SON is offering a free certificate for the SMEs operators.

    “We look forward for more partnership with SON and other agencies.

     

     

     

     

  • SON bemoans difficulty in halting fake products

    The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has said ensuring quality products will be guaranteed if importation of substandard and counterfeit products are stopped.

    Its Director General,  Dr. Joseph Odumodu who was represented by Director Operation,  Mr.  John Achukwu who spoke during a visit by  participants of the Policy, Strategic and Leadership Course in Abuja,  said the challenging environment has exposed Nigeria to the menace of substandard products.

    He said: “Today business worldwide and Nigeria inclusive are operating in a challenging environment characterised by globalisation,  not only of trade, but also of other important issues. Deregulation of many sectors such as telecommunications,  transport,  banks and health.

    “To curb these, SON has recently been cultivating collaboration with other organisations.  We believe in this because it gives us the ability to intermesh  and offer efficient and effective platform for developing workable solutions to technical and economic challenges faced by business,  government and society which we publish as standards.

    “Under this administration,  SON has expanded its inventory of technical standard to well over 1000 for the Nigerian Industrial Standards,  in addition to thousands of national and international standards in the last decade.

    “SON believes in communication as a two way street and thus seeks to know what our stakeholders require from us and communicate to them what we are doing and the benefits we deliver.

    “The need for effective communication informs SON’s policy of consulting a wide range of stakeholders in its standard elaboration. “A standard derived by consensus from the broadest participation possible becomes more binding and more likely to be implemented and complied with, for products applicable to it.”

    Odumodu said these schemes are the best mechanism for combating substandard products, adding that it has significantly reduced the menace of substandard products in the economy since its introduction.

  • SON reads riot act to cement manufactures

    SON reads riot act to cement manufactures

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has read the riot act to cement manufacturers on the urgrnt need for clear labeling and standardisation of the different grades of cement.

    Its Director-General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, said the agency has embarked on effective and comprehensive certification of products, especially building materials to ensure the safety of lives and property.

    He explained that cement has three different grades for special applications, such as 32.5, 42.5 and 52.5. The 32.5 grade, he said, is for plastering, while 42.5 is for casting of beams, slabs and block moulding. The 52.5 grade, on the other hand, is good in the construction of bridges and specialised applications.

    Odumodu told The Nation that there was need to monitor the quality of cement manufactured locally for use in construction, so as to check unhealthy developments in the sector.

    He said: “The building and construction segment of the economy have issues with standards, especially against the background of incessant cases of infrastructure failure, resulting in the loss of human lives, material resources, sectoral credibility and international goodwill.”

    On how to identify the various  cement grades in the market, he said: “Initially, there were no means of identification, but with the review of the standards, all producers are now under compulsion to print on each cement bag,  the grade and its application before it gets to the market.  Additionally, we have insisted on unique colour stripes to differentiate the various grades; yellow for 32.5, blue for 42.5 and red for 52.5 grades.”

    On why the cement standard was reviewed, Odumodu said principal among them, that consumers did not know what grades they were buying in the market, irrespective of the fact that the average costs of each grade of cement was the same nationwide.

  • ‘Nigeria had no document on national quality policy’

    ‘Nigeria had no document on national quality policy’

    The Director General, Standard Organisation of Nigeria,  Dr. Joseph Odumodu, disclosed that Nigeria is among the African countries that are not implementing the national quality policy NQP and has not had a trade version of this document.

    The work of the committee is to ensure well established National Quality Policy to support the National Industrial Revolution Plan. To enhance Nigeria’s reputation as a provider of quality products and service in the global market,  to sell what we have to the domestic and foreign market.

    Odumodu disclosed this at the 2nd meeting of the National Steering Committee,  NSC in Abuja, stating that alot of African countries have had a trade version of this document as Nigeria realises that not having this document hinders easy flow of foreign and domestic trading.

    He said,  “If you want to export cocoa today from Nigeria, you will find out that cocoa will not attract the same international price in the market, why? Because when people buy it in Europe and America they have to test your cocoa sterna. Cocoa has a challenge of heavy stern in it and there is a limit the standard allows only five percent stern in it so they say they can’t accept your product at that price because of the high stern. So they now discount cocoa in Nigeria at almost 10 percent of its value creating a huge loss for Nigeria.

    “This is happening because Nigeria doesn’t have an accreditation body, and an accreditation body actually ensures that there is classification of all lapses in Nigeria and that accreditation body is linked to other bodies all over the world in such a way that when you test a product in Nigeria, that certificate we will issue will not be questioned by anybody in the world and that is why we are losing at least 10 percent on export values.

    “Ondo State produces cocoa, go and find out how much we make in exporting cocoa so that you can put a value to that loss, one product, one commodity. Secondly, Nigeria through the industrial revolution plan is currently looking at why we must export primary commodities.  Why can’t we add value to our commodities so we can begin to export for the benefit of our people.

    “We all talk about job creation; we believe this policy will also help us to create a lot more jobs for Nigerians. From the document we have, we found out that over 500 million dollars can be saved over a period of five years in implementing this policy in Nigeria.

    “Nigeria has a metrology activity; If you look at what happened in the last two or three weeks between two government agencies that happened at the airport, this policy will ensure that there is clear regulation and no kind of conflict will occur. So it is a document that matters in everything about us.”

    He added that, the policy will also address alot of controverses surrounding cement in the country.

  • SON declares war on substandard bulbs, lamps

    SON declares war on substandard bulbs, lamps

    THE Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has started enforcement and seizure of substandard electrical bulbs and lamps in the markets.

    Speaking during a meeting with dealers of electrical bulbs and lamps at SON’s Lekki office in Lagos, its Director-General, Dr Joseph Odumodu said the agency will henceforth go to the various markets and seize any sub-standard bulbs or lamps found in the markets, adding that any product found below standard will be seize and destroy immediately.

    He directed that the lamps and bulbs sold in the marked must be registered with immediate effect.

    He added that the electrical and electronics market in Nigeria has been a source of serious concern to the organisation due to the high rate of importation of substandard and counterfeited products, which must be checked to give citizens value for their money.

    According to him, the electric light market in Nigeria today is filled with more of substandard products especially lamps of different types.

    He said a normal incandescent lamp was expected to have a minimum life of 1000 hours but stressed that according to lab results, the measured life of these lamps averages between 200 to 480 hours.

    He pointed out that 80 per cent of the energy saving lamps had failed the life performance test, saying that the cap of some of the lamps break off from the shell after the burn out time, making it difficult to remove such lamp holder.

    Odumodu said tests carried out on 72 lamps of 34 brands revealed that 44 out of 72 failed efficacy test, while three out of 72 failed initial torson test

    ”Nigerians are losing a lot of money replacing burnt out lamps too often than necessary.

    “Over 80 per cent of lamp tested did not declare he power factor of the lamp. Consumers are being short changed through the sales of substandard lamp thereby denying them value for money.”

    The need o sanitise the electric lamp market cannot be over emphasised considering the cost of replacing substandard lamp and the need to ensure that consumers are not expose o danger of exposure to intolerable level of mercury after use and disposal , this measure you will agree with me also is in your interest as a consumer of he product, I solicit your support o achieve SON policy on zero tolerance for substandard product in Nigeria,” he said.

  • ‘Harmonised standard can boost African trade’

    ‘Harmonised standard can boost African trade’

    THE only way the people and continent of Africa can maximise the benefits of trade relations is for there to be an harmonised standard across the board, the Director General, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr Joseph Odumodu, has said.

    According to Odumodu who emerged the new President of African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO), an organisation established some 36 years ago by 11 African countries, a combination of factors including low awareness, dearth of research, foreign dominance of trade by other continent are to blame for the poor trade relations among Africans.

    Going down memory lane, Odumodu recalled that “The idea of a continental standardisation body had received considerable impetus from the buoyant and optimistic mood that characterised the post-independence period in most of Africa. The mood then, under the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), was one of pan-African solidarity and collective self-reliance born of a shared destiny with standardisation viewed as a guidepost of the destiny and bedrock of African Economic Integration Agenda and a route to linking up of the fresh Africa’s economy with the rest of the world and to deliver the African Common Market for economic prosperity of the continent.”

    As to what his agenda is as the new helmsman at ARSO, he answered self-assuredly: “We will need to mobilise stakeholders and government officials to ensure political backing. It is common belief that African solutions serve best since they are home-grown and for this reason we will clearly see the need to have and develop our own standards and use them as a strategic resource.”

    Besides, he said: “Creating this awareness among us will not only re-affirm the work that ARSO does but will also ensure it reflects on all the importance and relevance to our respective National Standards bodies ARSO will offer the Standardisation Stakeholders the opportunity to focus more and more on a comprehensive African approach to standardisation as a strategic resource to Africa’s economic integration and an asset for improving Africa’s trade volume.

    “We should endeavour to sensitize and inculcate the concept of standards more firmly at our home governments, relevant agencies as well as national standards bodies (NSBs). It’s because of this that we will be able to fully realize the need to have an African Standards Day where we shall deliberate on ideas. These deliberations should enable us to look back and appreciate the work done by ARSO and how we can support it for the greater good.”

    In his assessment of the trade relations among African countries, he said it leaves nothing to cheer about.

    “Trade among African countries is abysmally low and we need to facilitate more trade among African countries. We are saying Africa can stop buying substandard goods coming into the continent from Asian countries by harmonising the issues of standard, conformity assessment that are in place and making them more useful to their countries. And there is need to severe bilateral ties with countries that bring those goods by not accepting to do business with them. We ought to be doing business with countries that are friendlier in trade agreement.

    “Africans are not trading with each other. I can tell you, if Africans are trading with each other, it is cheaper and more efficient. We need to build the African continent in terms of our capacity; we need to reach out and build ourselves to the level of other continents of the world, and the only way we can do this is trading with each other.”

    On the adverse effect of dumping of products in African countries, he said such practice was inimical to the continent and its people.

    “Africa has enemies who dump products on them at prices that make it impossible for Africa to compete; enemies who dump radioactive products on us without our knowledge because we do not have sophisticated infrastructure to test and detect these things, enemies who prevent us from developing on our own. If we fight these enemies as individual countries, we may not have enough capacity or capability to do so. But if we fight these enemies as a continent, it will be a lot more effective because the smaller countries will take advantage of the presence of the larger countries and vice versa and that is where we are going.

  • SON embarks on e-registration of products

    TO simplify the process of products registration, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria has introduced e-registration on its website.

    This innovation is aimed at ensuring that genuine manufacturers and dealers experience less difficulty in getting their products registered.

    According to the agency, the move is also to ensure the success of its campaign of zero tolerance for substandard products, which the agency has carried to the various sectoral groups and parts of the country since July 2011, when it was launched

    On the e-registration, the Director-General, Dr Joseph Odumodu, in a statement, said the strategy is targeted at arresting the sale and production of unwholesome and substandard products. Besides, he said, it would make registration of consumer products compulsory for manufacturers before such could be displayed on shelves.

    Explaining the import of the initiative, he said the process would involve the launch of product identification marks on products within the category under review, stressing that any product without proper identification marks would not be allowed to be sold in the country.

    He said: “This is something we believe would help the manufacturers, the dealers and SON. It is all in the bid to ensure safer products, safer Nigerians and a healthier economy.”

    Odumodu said the agency was leveraging opportunities and platforms to make its work easier for the regulator and the larger society.

    He reaffirmed the determination of the agency to reduce the prevalence of substandard products from 60 per cent to about 30 per cent in three months. He added that the new scheme would involve products already in the market, including electric bulbs, stabilisers, tyres, electric fittings, generators, building materials and toys.

    Listing the advantages of e-registration, Odumodu said: “It would assist us in developing a data base of consumer products in the country. The scheme will enhance traceability in our compliance monitoring activities that is making it easy for us to trace any product and its manufacturer anytime the need arises.”

    He said in addition, the new scheme, apart from protecting consumers would also create employment and wealth.