THE Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) says the need to ensure that youths imbibe standard and quality informed the organisation’s decision to establish Standard Clubs in primary and secondary schools across the country.
Making this disclosure in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, during the inauguration of Standard Club in Ataoja Government High School, the drector-general and chief executive of SON, Mr Osita A. Aboloma, said “we are targeting the youth so that they can embrace standard at a very tender age.”
Represented by Mrs Oluremi Ayeni, the SON chief executive underscored the need for manufacturers in Nigeria to eschew the use of substandard materials for the production of their products, in order to create good markets for made-in-Nigeria goods and products outside the shores of the country.
“One area we identified as very crucial to creating further awareness on standardisation to encourage the populace to imbibe the quality culture is through the youth; hence the initiative to set up standards clubs in primary and secondary schools in Nigeria as a tool for social change and to consolidate similar ‘catch them young’ programme that we have been implementing over the years,” he explained.
Aboloma, who said SON wanted to explore standard to improve the life of Nigerians, further stated that “without standards, we cannot be competitive in our products being exported outside the country, and cutting of corners by some manufacturers who use substandard materials is a mark of lack of integrity.”
He tasked students to be sticklers to standards and high quality, adding that more categories of people would be educated to insist on quality and standard in purchase of goods, products and commodities from the markets and sales points.