FG tasks SON, others on infrastructure disaster prevention in Nigeria

THE Federal Government has asked the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and other regulators in standards in Nigeria to optimise the application of international standards in curbing infrastructure disasters like building collapse and fire outbreak in the country.

Speaking in Abuja at the World Standard Day, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar stated that issues of flooding, fire outbreak and other disasters will drastically reduce if regulatory bodies in standards in the country imbibe the application of the international standards in the development of infrastructure in Nigeria

According to her, “the vexed issues of building collapses, fire disasters, flooding, improper waste management and the like would be adequately dealt with if the various professional groups and associations, working with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria and other regulators in standards issues close ranks to optimise the application of international standards.”

The Minister said “the advent of the global village has redefined international standards development and provided ample opportunity to Nations to leverage on positive developments across the world; interact at a much faster rate than hitherto and enjoy the benefits of international standardization,” she noted.

She commended SON for the initiative of collaborating with the International Standard Organisation (ISO) in a current bid to create smart cities in Nigeria.

“I wish to commend the initiative of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) being our key representative in international standards forum in putting this programme together, which provides an opportunity for stakeholders across various sectors in Nigeria to discuss how standards can make our cities smarter,” She stated.

Abubakar explained that “the critical issues of making our cities and buildings smarter from conceptualization, through design and construction that provides for safety, access, good ventilation and aesthetics are some of the issues that the theme of this year’s World Standards Day is calling our attention to.”

She said “smart mobility through efficient public transportation, reduction in traffic, prevention and quick detection of accidents; smart and renewable energy deployment, security solutions, treatment of effluents and smart healthcare provisions” are some of the issues that should be considered seriously as the nation yields for preventive measures in tackling infrastructure disaster.

On his part, the Director General of Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Anthony Aboloma said “the beauty of smart cities is that you don’t have to start the city from the scratch, an old city can be made smart by improving on the structures, the sewage system and energy saving mechanism like deploying smart metals to every building in Nigerian city.”

“Some of these technologies are not new to us, we already have them, and all we need to do in Nigeria is to accelerate innovation in this regard to make our cities smarter.” He added that the country has a huge challenge of infrastructure and human capital deficiency, “that is why we are deploying standards to actively solve this challenge of poor city management, poor electricity and poor road traffic.”

He said “we will deploy technology to manage the traffic, the electricity and to generally discharge the core mandate of SON which is improving lives through standards,” Aboloma noted.

The World Standard Day was celebrated in Nigeria on Monday 30 October 2017 by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in collaboration with the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO); the International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Usually, the celebration takes place on the 14th of October every year.