SON, UNIDO working on breaking trade barriers through standardisation – DG

As part of efforts to ensuring Nigeria’s agricultural products gain global acceptance, Osita Abuloma, director-general, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), said the organisation was working closely with the United Nation’s Industrial Organisation (UNIDO) to break trade barriers through standardisation.
Abuloma also said SON was part of the global standardisation body known as “Codex,” which is ‎a collection of standards, guidelines and codes of practice adopted by the Codex Commission in Switzerland ensure global compliance.
Most Nigeria products, it would be noted such as beans and other agric produce, suffer export rejects in mainly advanced countries, but Abuloma said the Federal Government had been working closely with UNIDO to address such concern.
Speaking at the 2017 African Day of standardisation, on Tuesday in Abuja, the director-general noted that at the ECOWAS level, the organisation was championing the course for harmonisation of a single acceptable global standard for the region.
He said, “We have harmonisation of standards in the ECOWAS sub-region, and we adopt and adapt international standards, which would ensure we have a single globally acceptable standard for the sub-region.”
He also revealed that SON had just presented a standard for pounded‎ yam, which was going to be the standards across the board, adding, “We want a single standard for the exportation of our products such as yam, cocoyam, and ‎everything across the board.”
‎Meanwhile, Abimbola Uzoma, the UNIDO representative at the event, while speaking on the theme of the event – ‘The role of Standards in Promoting Women Rights,’ said the Organisation would always with National institutions that work towards mainstreaming women in their economic agenda for industrial development.
She pointed out that mainstreaming women in standardisation would deepen socio-economic development‎ and address poverty concerns.
She adds further that women empowerment should reflect more on vocational and entrepreneurship development programmes to make women self-employed, increase their efficiency and capabilities in decision making in order to enhance competitiveness and trading activities.
Earlier in his remarks, the director-general noted that insufficient knowledge and skills to implement the requirements of standards in MSME sub-sector informed why the organisation was building capacity and sensitisation of women, their role in standardisation of MSME sector was enhanced.
HARRISON EDEH, ABUJA