The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), South-East Regional Operations Directorate (SEROD) on Thursday took standards awareness messages to streets, roads and markets within Enugu metropolis.
Taking the awareness walk, which was hatch-tag: “SON-Walk-For-Standards”, through Enugu metropolis, Mr Chucks Aharanwa, Director of SEROD, said that the Director-General of SON, Dr. Ifeanyi Okeke, had developed strategic mapping agenda for the Agency.
Aharanwa noted that the Director-General’s strategic mapping agenda aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals –9 (SDGs-9) factors in-order to grow local businesses and contribute to the nation’s economic development through standardisation and quality assurance of products and services.
“The Chief Executive and Director-General of SON has great interest in the South-East region because of its rapid economic development in terms of growth and being the economic fulcrum of Nigeria.
“It is only fair that keen attention be given to the South-East economic struggle through provision of infrastructure, funds and services needed to globalise the region,” he said.
He noted that the “World Standards Day is a global event” and SON had declared standardisation awareness across all the regions of Nigeria so that together, “we can achieve domestication of standardization.”
Addressing traders at Ogbete Main Market in Enugu, Aharanwa condemned the display and sales of substandard products in South-East markets.
He urged traders to only patronise companies with products’ certification such as the Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria Offshore Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP) certification.
The director, who coordinated sharing of SON fliers, also shared information on how to reach SON offices in the South-East and beyond for consumer complaints under the Consumer Feedback and Collaboration Unit as well as for whistle-blowing.
The SON-Walk-for-Standardisation, which is part of commemoration of the 2024 World Standards Day Celebration held in Enugu, brought together all the coordinator and staff of South-East states offices of SON.
The state coordinators included: Engr Anthony Eneh (Abia State); Mrs Comfort Echebiri (Imo State); Mrs. Ugwueche Maryrose (Ebonyi State); and Engr. Peter Ameh (Enugu State) as well as staff of National Metrology Institute (NMI) and SON Engineering Laboratory, Enugu.
The World Standard Day, which is celebrated Oct. 14 each year, has its 2024 theme as “Shared Vision For A Better World: Spotlight on SDG9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure In the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The Day is targeted at dedicating more energy into the SDG-9, which focuses on three basic aspects -Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure – that seeks to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation.