Standards are Crucial to Economic Growth, Says SON DG
From left Ag. Director Standards Development Engr. Yahaya Bukar, (middle)Director General SON, Mallam Farouk Salim and Ag. Director Public Relations; Mrs. Foluso Bolaji;Director, Information Communication Technology, SON;Mr Justin Nickaf at a Press Conference to mark the World Standards Day celebrated every October 14
The Standards Organissation of Nigeria (SON) has said that standards remain crucial to economic growth, while advising Nigerians to bear this in mind while intensifying efforts
in creating more employment opportunities and wealth in the country.
This was as the organization joined to commemorate the anniversary of World Standards Day which theme is “Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs), a precursor for growth”
Director General of SON , Mallam Farouk Salim, gave this advice as Nigeria joined other 159 members of the world to celebrate 2022 World Standards Day.
Salim said jobs and wealth advancements were key to the realisation of the three major functions of SDGs.
The three include the need to bring poverty to end, creation of prosperity and climate protection .
According to him, jobs and wealth have been created through private initiatives since governments are overburdened with problems, which include poor economy, spiralling inflationary trend, closure of factories and many others.
He said: ” It is be a good idea for Nigerians and the country in particular, if more jobs and wealth are created by the citizens. Life itself is complimentary. We must strive to compliment one other through provision of amenities needed for the survival of our countries”.
SON’s Director General further said that attempts by the nationals to create more jobs and wealth are good developments for the nation’s standards agency and the economy in particular.
He said that the agency is saddled with huge responsibilities of encouraging operators to provide standards for their products, as well as ensuring that they have International Standards Organisation ( ISO) certificates to gain recognition abroad.
Nigeria’s plans to achieve the provisions of SDG’s, he said, would definitely come into fruitions, if all Nigerians are supporting government’s efforts to make the economy great and formidable.
He said SON would be able to upscale its operations, by providing more certifications and standardizations for products and activities in the country.
The Nigeria’s number one standards officer further said that standardization is key to economic developments, stressing that Nigeria’s economy would become a force to reckon with globally, if this trend continue.
Moved by the need to encourage unprecedented growths in the nation’s economy, SON has introduced different levels of specifications for products, in order to align with international best practices and further create appeals for them, as against a situation in which Nigerian goods were rejected in the global market.
Not only this, the parastaltal, established in 1971 and wholly owned by the Federal Government, in line with an enabling act 56, has provided many certifications and standards for hundreds of products in Nigeria.
Like a proverbial Oliver Twist, the agency has been asking Nigerians to submit more products for necessary actions, as evident by its campaigns, which dwell mostly on calling on companies to try and obtain standards for their products, with a view to unlock economic growth.
The development, which is in tandem with the objectives of SON to prepare and promote national/regional and international standards for products, has again buttressed the fact that the agency is ready to bring necessary growth to bear on the economy.
Interestingly, the efforts have paid off as SON few years ago increased the number of products certified by more than 2000.
This happens, as the nation’s standards agency approved standards for publication and dissemination into other sectors of the economy, in the past few years.
Industry observers expressed delight in the progress recorded so far and optimistic that this would translate into growth in the operation of the companies, whose products were approved by the nation’s standards organ.
The observers who are mostly drawn from the financial services industry, said turnovers, profits after tax, fixed and non-fixed assets of the firms concerned in the matter are going to experience appreciable growths.
Commenting on the development, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Trade/ Investments and SON’s Chairman, Nazir Sani Gwarzo, said
SON was created by the government in order to inspire growth in the economy, stressing that the activities of the agency were borne out of the needs to contribute positively to the growth of
socio-economic issues in Nigeria.
Added to this, the SON’s Chair, said there was the need to use standardisation to attract foreign investments into the country.
Continuing further, Gwarzo said that the approval was in furtherance of the economic diversification programmes of the Federal Government.
Prior to this period, the parastaltal has provided over 2000 certifications, a development, which many stakeholders described as a good development in the country, that is working assiduously grow its economy greatly.
Still on standards, the Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria ( SON), Mallam Farouk Salim said that the parastaltal is committed to help the nation’s economy grow into an enviable heights, by bringing more institute on board to obtain standards for their products.
The Federal Government, Salim said, is committed to develop the economy greatly, as evident by the policies, introduced and implemented by various stakeholders in the economic value chain.
The agency, he said, appreciated the roles played by workers in impacting positively on the economy, noting the agency has concluded plans to improve its workforce in order to strengthening its operations and the economy in particular.
Salim said: “The development informed the decision to conduct a training programmes for workers across the country. The week-long exercise draw workers from areas such as South-South, South-East, South-West and Northern part of the country.
Through the training, we are able to introduce workers to the rudiments of their profession, in view of the fact that they are educators and providers of standards for goods and services in the country.
Adding that: “the workers were trained on how to abide with the agency’s ethical standards in the course of carrying out their official duties in SON.
When companies in need of standards see our officials as men and women of integrity, coupled with their pragmatism and patriotism, those would one day show interest in obtaining standards for their products. When this happens, those firms and the economy would benefit either in the short or long term”.
Salim listed other measures, which SON adopts in order to deepening activities in the economy, include increasing standards in the real sector of the economy.
This, he said, involves bringing stakeholders in the sub-sector together, explain the benefits inherent in obtaining standards to them and assuring them of the benefits in using highly tested materials for building construction.
SON, Salim said, has laboratory in Ogba, Lagos for testing of all quality materials required for Sandcrete blocks, stressing that there other avenues of testing the quality of building materials.
Salim said that stakeholders, especially building contractors are going to deepening their participation in the building arm of the real sub sector, knowingly fully well that their jobs are secured through the laboratories owned by SON.
He said more jobs are going to be created in the real sector and by so doing, youths would get jobs to do and in the process, would come out of criminal activities such as internet frauds among others.
He reiterated the plans of the agency to combat influx of sub-standards products and in return, explore opportunities in the local economy.
Aside the on going partnership between SON and Nigeria Customs Service ( NCS) initiated to fight smuggling of products into the country, the standard agency would leverage on MANCAP to fight incidence of illegal and inferior goods in the country.
He said: ” MANCAP, an acronym for the Mandatory Conformity Programme (MANCAP),is a compulsory product specification scheme put in place by SON to ensure that all locally manufactured products in the country conform to the relevant Nigerian Industrial Standards ( NIS) before such products are presented for sales and exports.”
SON, Salim. said, is committed to provide standards to importers of goods, adding that the development would help in tackling cases of
sub-standards products in the country.
On MSMEs also known as Small Medium Enterprises ( SMEs), Salim said SMEs are vehicles of economic, adding that the sub-sector would help in creating more jobs, if it is well explored.
The standards agency, Salim said, has in the past trained officials of MSMEs, stressing that the sub-sector has capacity to create more job opportunities in Nigeria.
Salim said the organisation is providing technical support MSMEs stressing that the idea would provide innotiveness in that segment of the manufacturing industry.
in creating more employment opportunities and wealth in the country.
This was as the organization joined to commemorate the anniversary of World Standards Day which theme is “Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs), a precursor for growth”
Director General of SON , Mallam Farouk Salim, gave this advice as Nigeria joined other 159 members of the world to celebrate 2022 World Standards Day.
Salim said jobs and wealth advancements were key to the realisation of the three major functions of SDGs.
The three include the need to bring poverty to end, creation of prosperity and climate protection .
According to him, jobs and wealth have been created through private initiatives since governments are overburdened with problems, which include poor economy, spiralling inflationary trend, closure of factories and many others.
He said: ” It is be a good idea for Nigerians and the country in particular, if more jobs and wealth are created by the citizens. Life itself is complimentary. We must strive to compliment one other through provision of amenities needed for the survival of our countries”.
SON’s Director General further said that attempts by the nationals to create more jobs and wealth are good developments for the nation’s standards agency and the economy in particular.
He said that the agency is saddled with huge responsibilities of encouraging operators to provide standards for their products, as well as ensuring that they have International Standards Organisation ( ISO) certificates to gain recognition abroad.
Nigeria’s plans to achieve the provisions of SDG’s, he said, would definitely come into fruitions, if all Nigerians are supporting government’s efforts to make the economy great and formidable.
He said SON would be able to upscale its operations, by providing more certifications and standardizations for products and activities in the country.
The Nigeria’s number one standards officer further said that standardization is key to economic developments, stressing that Nigeria’s economy would become a force to reckon with globally, if this trend continue.
Moved by the need to encourage unprecedented growths in the nation’s economy, SON has introduced different levels of specifications for products, in order to align with international best practices and further create appeals for them, as against a situation in which Nigerian goods were rejected in the global market.
Not only this, the parastaltal, established in 1971 and wholly owned by the Federal Government, in line with an enabling act 56, has provided many certifications and standards for hundreds of products in Nigeria.
Like a proverbial Oliver Twist, the agency has been asking Nigerians to submit more products for necessary actions, as evident by its campaigns, which dwell mostly on calling on companies to try and obtain standards for their products, with a view to unlock economic growth.
The development, which is in tandem with the objectives of SON to prepare and promote national/regional and international standards for products, has again buttressed the fact that the agency is ready to bring necessary growth to bear on the economy.
Interestingly, the efforts have paid off as SON few years ago increased the number of products certified by more than 2000.
This happens, as the nation’s standards agency approved standards for publication and dissemination into other sectors of the economy, in the past few years.
Industry observers expressed delight in the progress recorded so far and optimistic that this would translate into growth in the operation of the companies, whose products were approved by the nation’s standards organ.
The observers who are mostly drawn from the financial services industry, said turnovers, profits after tax, fixed and non-fixed assets of the firms concerned in the matter are going to experience appreciable growths.
Commenting on the development, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Trade/ Investments and SON’s Chairman, Nazir Sani Gwarzo, said
SON was created by the government in order to inspire growth in the economy, stressing that the activities of the agency were borne out of the needs to contribute positively to the growth of
socio-economic issues in Nigeria.
Added to this, the SON’s Chair, said there was the need to use standardisation to attract foreign investments into the country.
Continuing further, Gwarzo said that the approval was in furtherance of the economic diversification programmes of the Federal Government.
Prior to this period, the parastaltal has provided over 2000 certifications, a development, which many stakeholders described as a good development in the country, that is working assiduously grow its economy greatly.
Still on standards, the Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria ( SON), Mallam Farouk Salim said that the parastaltal is committed to help the nation’s economy grow into an enviable heights, by bringing more institute on board to obtain standards for their products.
The Federal Government, Salim said, is committed to develop the economy greatly, as evident by the policies, introduced and implemented by various stakeholders in the economic value chain.
The agency, he said, appreciated the roles played by workers in impacting positively on the economy, noting the agency has concluded plans to improve its workforce in order to strengthening its operations and the economy in particular.
Salim said: “The development informed the decision to conduct a training programmes for workers across the country. The week-long exercise draw workers from areas such as South-South, South-East, South-West and Northern part of the country.
Through the training, we are able to introduce workers to the rudiments of their profession, in view of the fact that they are educators and providers of standards for goods and services in the country.
Adding that: “the workers were trained on how to abide with the agency’s ethical standards in the course of carrying out their official duties in SON.
When companies in need of standards see our officials as men and women of integrity, coupled with their pragmatism and patriotism, those would one day show interest in obtaining standards for their products. When this happens, those firms and the economy would benefit either in the short or long term”.
Salim listed other measures, which SON adopts in order to deepening activities in the economy, include increasing standards in the real sector of the economy.
This, he said, involves bringing stakeholders in the sub-sector together, explain the benefits inherent in obtaining standards to them and assuring them of the benefits in using highly tested materials for building construction.
SON, Salim said, has laboratory in Ogba, Lagos for testing of all quality materials required for Sandcrete blocks, stressing that there other avenues of testing the quality of building materials.
Salim said that stakeholders, especially building contractors are going to deepening their participation in the building arm of the real sub sector, knowingly fully well that their jobs are secured through the laboratories owned by SON.
He said more jobs are going to be created in the real sector and by so doing, youths would get jobs to do and in the process, would come out of criminal activities such as internet frauds among others.
He reiterated the plans of the agency to combat influx of sub-standards products and in return, explore opportunities in the local economy.
Aside the on going partnership between SON and Nigeria Customs Service ( NCS) initiated to fight smuggling of products into the country, the standard agency would leverage on MANCAP to fight incidence of illegal and inferior goods in the country.
He said: ” MANCAP, an acronym for the Mandatory Conformity Programme (MANCAP),is a compulsory product specification scheme put in place by SON to ensure that all locally manufactured products in the country conform to the relevant Nigerian Industrial Standards ( NIS) before such products are presented for sales and exports.”
SON, Salim. said, is committed to provide standards to importers of goods, adding that the development would help in tackling cases of
sub-standards products in the country.
On MSMEs also known as Small Medium Enterprises ( SMEs), Salim said SMEs are vehicles of economic, adding that the sub-sector would help in creating more jobs, if it is well explored.
The standards agency, Salim said, has in the past trained officials of MSMEs, stressing that the sub-sector has capacity to create more job opportunities in Nigeria.
Salim said the organisation is providing technical support MSMEs stressing that the idea would provide innotiveness in that segment of the manufacturing industry.
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