‘SON’s accredited laboratories to spike Nigeria’s industrial development’

The Federal Government on Thursday last week said the internationally certified laboratories of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) would speed up Nigeria’s industrial and economic diversification, especially now that the oil price had dipped.

Olusegun Aganga, minister of industry, trade and investment, said prior to the certification of the accredited laboratories of SON, many exported products did not meet the required certification because there was no accredited laboratories with global standards to certify them.

Aganga, who spoke at the official commissioning of SON’s twin office building at its headquarters in Abuja, said efficiency of the laboratories would naturally increase income for the Federal Government, stressing that export products should not continue to suffer rejects from global markets.

Nigeria has had rejects of 103 of its export products within the last decade owing to lack of accredited laboratories.

According to Aganga, with the accredited laboratories and the refocusing of the economy through the National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), the Federal Government would reap more benefits from the economy.

“Prior to the certification of the accredited laboratories, we could not export, for example, yam to the United Kingdom, because, we did not have the quality infrastructure to do that. Those who exported goods from Nigeria went to Ghana to test them and Ghana takes the credit because it is recorded in their name,” he said.

Joseph Odumodu, director-general, SON, said within the last four years of his tenure, the focus of the agency had been directed at personnel development, physical infrastructure and legislation in order to position the agency for economic diversification.

As part of efforts to curb infrastructure deficit in the organisation, the director-general said: “We remodelled our offices in Lekki in Lagos, upgraded our laboratory for the mechanical in Enugu, and the Textile Laboratory in Kaduna.”

He said the agency was currently constructing a four-storey multi-laboratory complex, which would be completed in the next two or three months in Ogba, Lagos, saying “in the next few weeks, the minister would be doing the ground-breaking ceremony of the National Meteorology Institute in Enugu, as well as commissioning the Ogba edifice in Lagos.”

Mustafa Abubakar, chairman, Council of Standards Regulators of Nigeria, said there was the need to have a befitting office for staff members to achieve effective service delivery for the organisation, and lauded the SON for the initiation and completion of the National Quality Policy and nurturing of the national accreditation service of its food laboratories by the World Health Organisation, as these would boost efficiency.