The Governing Council of Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, has approved 168 new standards for publication and dissemination to various sectors of Nigeria’s economy.
Director-General of SON, Malam Farouk Salim, who disclosed this at a World Press Conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the organisation in Abuja, said the approval is in furtherance of the ongoing economic diversification policy of the federal government.
Salim noted that SON is structured to lead every process that surrounds the preparation of standards relating to products, measurements, materials, and processes among others, and their promotion at the national, regional, and international levels.
According to him, the organisation has evolved into one of the world’s most reputable standards regulatory bodies due to good leadership demonstrated by its successive chief executives
“Working within the provisions of the Enabling Act, SON under my leadership, has been able to, through the Standards Council, designate, establish, and approve standards in respect of metrology, materials, commodities, structures, and processes for the certification of products in commerce and industry throughout Nigeria,” he said.
While reeling out his achievements since assumption of office in September 2020, the SON boss noted that so far, his management has been able to facilitate the return of SON to the ports, approval of 213 new Nigeria industrial standards for stakeholders/industry use and economic growth by the son governing council, and re-equipping the national metrology institute, Enugu to protect Nigerian roads, and promote fair trade.
Other achievements enumerated by him include; the “calibration of weigh bridges nationwide on federal government’s directives, allocation of landed properties by the governments of Katsina, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Kano, Cross Rivers and Ebonyi for the construction of prototype son regional/state/laboratory/ storage complex, among others.
Salim also added to the credit of his administration the launch of eleven approved Nigerian industrial standards on animal feeds in collaboration with the World Bank, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Animal Husbandry and others in Abuja.
He noted that SON was established as an organisation in 1971 by Decree No 56 of 1971, adding that the law establishing the organisation has undergone five amendments, the latest being 2015 because of the enormous volume of fake products circulating in Nigerian market and the fact that standards relating to products quality were not being met.
“To further strengthen SON in the face of the emerging challenges and realities led to the amendment of the Act again to SON Act 2004. However, the need to amend the Act 2004 came to the fore, with the enormous volume of fake products circulating in Nigeria market because standards relating to products quality were not being met. The leadership of the country realized that the law did not impose strict penalties for offences and gave officers of the Organisation with minimal functions and powers.
“We live in a world that keeps evolving in needs and challenges. The defects in existing procedures and the guiding document obvious. It was in a bid to cure the defects in the SON Act 2004 that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria Act of 2015 was enacted,” he said.
Salim also stated that the enactment of the SON Act 2015 has increased the penalty for violation of standards and related matters.
“To further demonstrate its desire for a more effective standardization process, the Federal Government introduced the first ever Nigerian National Standardisation Strategy (NNSS) 2020 – 2022 as part of its economic diversification policy. The strategy, which was developed by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), is designed to identify priority areas to focus on, based on national needs assessment,” he said.