Nigeria to adopt global standards for all products —SON

THE Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has said the country will adopt international global standards for all products.

To this end, SON said it has prosecuted and secured jail terms for eight persons over non-conformity of products this year.

This was disclosed during a walk to commemorate the 2023 World Standard Day, with the theme ‘Shared Vision for a Better World’, held in Lagos, on October 14.

World Standards Day is commemorated globally on October 14 to highlight the importance of standards-related activities and honour the collaborative effort of individuals and standardisation bodies involved in the development of voluntary standards.

Speaking during a walk that kicked off from its premises in Ogba area of Lagos to mark the day, Director, Human Resources, SON, Timothy Abner, said the theme of this year’s celebration was clear and aimed at ensuring better global standards.

“The world is sharing a vision to make sure that the same standard exists wherever you are. We all agree that the world is moving to have the same standard everywhere and SON is ensuring that we have the ability to have a laid-down rule that all products must conform to. We are ensuring that goods are accepted everywhere they go.

“We have had a lot of goods moving from one country to another and, of course, we have the international standards to be able to ensure that such goods are accepted wherever they go. In Nigeria, we want to key into this vision by making sure that we have standards for everything,” Abner stated.

Also speaking, SON Director of Standard Development, Yahaya Buka, said the organisation, along with other stakeholders, is determined to fight substandard products for the benefit of all.

“Substandard products have so many implications that money and time are lost. We cannot achieve anything without having a common force to fight the menace. Every month, we go around factories to inspect what they are doing and those who are not complying are prosecuted, because all the products manufactured in Nigeria must comply with the mandatory quality assurance,” he said.

On his part, the Director, Inspectorate and Compliance Department, Mr Manji Lawal, who said standard is important in life, disclosed that the organisation has prosecuted and secured jail terms for eight people while other cases are pending.

Lawal explained that the compliance and inspection department carries out inspections of products, mostly imported, and then ensures that they comply with the requirements of the standards.

He said that standards in every aspect of life are important because, without standards, there would be no basis for judging the quality of the product.

He, however, identified smuggling as a major challenge to eliminating substandard products in the country.

Corroborating their views, Director of Public Relations, Foluso Bolaji, noted that the whole world is adopting one standard so that goods moved from Nigeria to any part of the world would be the same.

Bolaji said the advantage of these is that Nigerians could embrace standards so that when they subscribe to the mandatory conformity assessment programmes, they could export their products in line with the president’s theme of a home-grown economy.