Standard Organisation of Nigeria Former DG says substandard products reduced

Standard Organisation of NigeriaFormer DG says substandard products reduced

 

Odumodu added that the organisation had seized and destroyed more than N10 billion worth of counterfeit products and had enforced compliance to international best practice.

Dr Joseph Odumodu, former Director General, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), said substandard products in the country had reduced from 85 per cent to 30 per cent in five years.

Odumodu, who was appointed director-general of SON in 2011, said this in Abuja when he handed over the mantle of leadership of the organisation to a new acting director general.

He said the organisation got international accreditation for Food Technology Laboratories at Lekki in Lagos during his tenure.

Odumodu added that SON’s Food and Technology Laboratories could now help to reduce the rejection of the nation’s products, especially agro-allied commodities at the global export market.

According to him, the organisation has attracted more investments by sanitising the cables sub sector, which hitherto caused high rate inferno in buildings.

He said ``all over the world, we know that Nigeria's cable is the best.''

Odumodu added that the organisation had seized and destroyed more than N10 billion worth of counterfeit products and had enforced compliance to international best practice.

He noted that ``chasing containers, raiding warehouses and companies to look for substandard products expose us to dangers and threats to personal safety and property but we continued to do that in order to maintain standard.''

He, therefore, advised the Federal Government to address the market glut in the steel sector by making Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to patronise locally-produced iron bars which were now of high quality.

He also advised staff of the organisation to be committed toward enforcing standard in goods and services, stressing that ``we have developed a process that will ultimately lead to certification of all government agencies and processes.

"This process will ensure that government processes become sustainable and predictable in terms of cost, timing of service delivery and consumer-focus.''

The former director general, who advised the organisation to focus on working with the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in order to certify their products, also urged the Federal Government to return SON to the ports, saying SON was in a better position to verify imports into the country.

In his speech, Mr Paul Angya, the new acting Director-General, who is the Director of Corporate Services of SON, said Odumodu had given them a roadmap to follow.

Angya said that the staff of the organisation would ensure that they continue with what the former director general started and preserve his achievements.

"We both have public and private orientation because the former director general came from the private sector and we learnt a lot from him,’’ he added.