About 400 Nigerian companies have received the Management Systems Certification, says the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON.
This was disclosed by the Director of Marketing of the organisation, Richard Adewunmi, in Calabar on Thursday during a stakeholders’ sensitisation forum which is a nationwide sentisation campaign by the organisation.
It had as theme: ‘SON: Partner in progress for business boom via standardisation’.
Adewunmi said, “In Nigeria today, about 400 companies have received the Management Systems Certification to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.
“What this does is that any organisation that subscribes to that we are sure they have put in place proper management systems in line with the requirements of the standards.”
The Director General and CEO of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, FPSN, also said the organisation has put in place Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) to ensure that all locally manufactured products conform to the relevant Nigeria Industrial Standards “NIS”.
Salim, who was represented by Usman Mohammed, the director of the South/South Region of SON, listed the benefits of certification.
He said, “certification of locally manufactured products ensures that manufactured products comply with standards, and quality awareness is promoted in the production of goods and provision of services.
“In addition, the sale of substandard and unsafe products in the market is prevented, products purchased by consumers make the consumers have value for money, provision of records for identification and traceability of products, provision of level playing ground in competitive domestic and international markets and promote trade and investment.”
Similarly, the Senior Special Adviser to the DG/CE and national coordinator of sensitization programmes Chief Emeka Duru, said “a platform like this is used to interface with stakeholders and create awareness so that businesses can move forward,” adding that without the stakeholders SON would not exist and the platform would also help in implementing best practices and minimising wastes.
The Cross River State coordinator of SON, Engr. Ninma Apim also remarked that compliance with SON specifications would improve goods and services.
A representative of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Usen Umoh, said MAN would sustain its partnership with SON to ensure that locally manufactured goods are always up to standard.