By Abdullahi Mohammed
As part of the effort to tackle the issue of substandard goods in Nigeria, the Standards Organisation Of Nigeria (SON) has launched Operation Flush. Speaking in Abuja on Monday at a round table with Civil Society Organizations under the auspices of Standard Awareness Group ( SAG) SON DG, Joseph Odumodu said the recent European Union ban on beans and other agricultural products leaving Nigeria was regrettable stating that, had the exporters of those products taken advantage of the lab, such occurrence would have been avoided.
Odumodu in his opening remark said “Operation E – Flush, (is) an initiative that will expand our scope of engagement in our defence of quality and fight against substandard goods and counterfeit products. I am truly honoured by your presence here today bearing in mind that you have other equally important engagements.
This is an initiative I am truly excited about because we have waited patiently for the right time to unleash the scheme and now we are ready because our e- registration schemes have been on since 2013. Also , our quality helpers such as accredited labs , metrology labs,National Metrology institute and the certification of our officers have been completed and upgraded. Now, Operation E- Flush cannot only begin but be effective” he added .
The Director General also sighted that ” Operation E – Flush is coming at a time our six point agenda – compliance monitoring through market raids of various industries, consumer engagements, media engagement, capacity building , developing the competitiveness of locally made goods and global relevance- has been collapsed into the MINFOW (Made In Nigeria For The World ) for easier grasp and focus.
Speaking earlier at the event, the National Coordinator SAG Mohammed Attah while affirming the relationship between SON and SAG in fighting sub standards goods in Nigeria said that ” the SON is an institution towards enhancing a standard goods in Nigeria. As you already know SON has a huge task of ensuring that comes to past in Nigeria. At that meeting that was held in Sokoto state and several environ held at national levels . Standard Awareness Group (is) on list serve for networking key stakeholders essentially to allow everybody connect to discuss issues surrounding standards at every level of the society and that has been on and we have been working and I am also very happy to say that the team working with Director General has been very wonderful in ensuring that civil society (organizations) are part and direct campaigning and that is what we want and why we want to continue to identify with them” he stated.
Attah also said that “Standard Awareness Group has its new law renewed in 2015 . And it was signed before the previous administration ended . We are also part of that move because we did alot of work (on that ). I am happy to announce to you formally now that Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) is now one of the anti corruption agencies in Nigeria. Is on that note based on the kind of understanding with Standards Organization of Nigeria SON ,that we are convening inviting stakeholders particularly civil society of organization that is all over the country” he stated.
Attah also enjoined the media to become part of this fight against a substandard products in Nigeria.
