The Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) in collaboration with COTECNA has sensitised stakeholders on the need to cling to Conformity Assessment Programme of the organisation in order to facilitate quality imports into Nigeria for economic development.
Director, Product Certification Department, SON, Tersoo Orngudwem in his presentation during a one-day sensitization in Calabar, noted that false declaration is the order of the day among business people stressing that most times, what’s on the certificate is not what is on the container.
He explained that every goods in Nigeria is exportable but most people don’t know the requirements of the export market, encouraging the stakeholders to request such requirements from SON because it deals directly with other bodies in other countries.
“Even when most of our exporters know the requirements, our packaging is very wrong, not attractive at all. Also, sometimes we overprice, well the overpricing could be the problem with our infrastructure. You’re providing electricity and water yourself, so eventually the cost of production will be added to the price so it becomes difficult, he added.
In his words: “My first advice is let us not cut corners in our production, let’s do things right and our goods will be accepted. Sincerity of purpose is what we Nigerians need to sell our product outside the shores of this country because we are intelligent people, there’s nothing we produce here if we want to do it right that will not meet international requirements.
“It is quest to make fast money that makes us to produce substandard goods, he averred.
Earlier, COTECNA country manager, Ade Adediran charged the participants that SONCAP Certificate is mandatory for custom clearance of SONCAP-regulated goods and admonished them not to ship without obtaining the compulsory certificates.
Also speaking at the event, Cross River State Commissioner for Commerce, Hon Abigail Duke Orok, disclosed that Cross River State Government under this current administration is focused on the possibility of practically exporting its rich Agro products outside this country having laid a good foundation in the previous administration.
“Government is a continuous process, other administrations have built the structure and the current administration is to pick from where they stopped and take it to the next level.
We are yearning to export and I’m eager to sell Cross River products and Standard Organization of Nigeria is key in this activity.
“We need to partner with them. I am looking at how we can physically or intentionally package our producers 2 to 5 of them, put them into clusters and see what SON and other agencies can put together to help us take those goods outside Nigeria. By the time we do one or two times like that, we will allow them handle it themselves and at the end of the day we will start the export of non-oil products.
In addition, “our gains will be in foreign currency and we’ll gain selling Nigeria to outside country. We’ve been looked at by our negatives side but by the time we start sending good certified products out of Nigeria, we will be seen in good light out there and our foreign reserve will increase, she added.
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