SON Urges SMES To Embrace Standardisation To Improve Product Quality

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has urged industries and people in Ebonyi State to be quality conscious and embrace standardisation.

The Director-General of SON, Mr Farouk Salim, made the call on Wednesday in Abakaliki during a one-day sensitisation organised for industry stakeholders in the state. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the event is the “Roles of Standardisation and Quality Assurance in Economic Growth: SON as Panacea.”
Salim, represented by the Director, South-East Regional Operations of the organisation, Mr Fred Akingbesote, said the agency is in the state to ensure that industries, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises meet the expected standards.

“We want Ebonyi products to be exported beyond the shores of the country and ensure they meet international competitiveness. This is our aim.

“We also have the interest of the people in the state to support stakeholders to enable them to export their products,” Salim said.

He further said that standardisation of industries and products would bring employment and reduce insecurity in the country.

The Director, National Meteorology Institute, SON Enugu, advised participants and the public to deploy their expertise to do the right thing in order to promote growth.
The State Coordinator of the agency, Mrs Maryrose Ugwueche, expressed SON’s readiness to grow the economy of the state.

Ugwueche also urged the participants and public to embrace the agency’s services, including elaboration of standards for various products and factory inspection for production process guidance.

Others, according to her, include product certification and registration, market surveillance and supermarket inspections and provision of standards, among others, to enhance growth.

“Nigerians deserve the best.

“Our mission in the state is to facilitate trade, no matter how small.

“We also want to ensure products are standardised so that they can be sold within the state and also exported,” Ugwueche said.

In a remark, the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mr Steven Odoh, thanked SON for organising the programme.

Odoh called for more public enlightenment to promote economic development and growth in the state.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Solid Minerals, Mr Elijah Ituma, said that all the solid mineral products would be standardised to attract international and local markets.
The Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Mr Uchenna Orji, who was represented by his Permanent Secretary, Mr Kama Egwu, said that SON had made remarkable impact in the state by product certification.

Mrs Sylvia Ogbuinya, President of Women in Mining, Ebonyi chapter, promised that women from the sector participating in the event would carry the message for product standardisation to the grassroot level.

Ogbuinya, represented by a member of the group, Mrs Christian Nwokoro, also urged manufacturers to embrace product standardisation and registration of products to ensure safety.
“The 21 women will go to the grassroot to enlighten people on the need to support standardisation,” Ogbuinya said.

A participant and Traditional Ruler, Eze Joseph Onyezebe, who received a certified product, thanked SON for the recognition.