Stakeholders in the manufacturing and import businesses have been charged by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to leverage on the agency’s accredited laboratories to be competitive, while also boosting consumer confidence in locally made products.
The Deputy Director, Food Laboratory Services, SON, Ms. Yeside Akinlabi, made the charge at a sensitisation workshop on SON laboratory services in Lagos recently.
According to her, “The sensitisation of SON laboratory services is long overdue. As apex body for standardisation, people expect so much from us. It is high time we reposition the laboratory and we decided that the time is now to actually showcase what our SON laboratory is all about.”
She stated that without testing, the quality of a product cannot be determined, stressing that the agency’s laboratories have been repositioned to carry out any form of testing required for both locally and imported products.
“Without testing, we cannot know if a product is of good standard and this is why laboratories are key. We are calling on manufacturers to take advantage of our laboratories to test their products. Our laboratories are open for them to bring their products for test,” she added. In her words, “We have more equipment to test products, this will give manufacturers confidence in whatever they are churning out into the market, while also boosting consumer confidence in whatever goods and services they buy.”
She pointed out that a lot has gone into the refurbishment and equipping of its laboratories, maintaining that SON is developing standards to ensure that consumers get value for money spent as well as encouraging manufacturers produce in line with global best practices in order to be competitive and acceptable at the international market.
“We also need to step up to check the products coming into the country through the seaports, so this is why we equipped the laboratory with the necessary equipment so that we can curb the influx of fake and substandard goods through testing and quality assurance,” she said.