Walter Ukaegbu, Abuja
The Director General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr. Osita Anthony Aboloma, has presented the anti-bribery management system NISISO 37001:2011 and good governance NIS0902:2017 to the public.
During the public sensitisation workshop in Abuja yesterday, Aboloma said a group of national experts were brought together to mirror the work of ISO project committee on anti-bribery management systems.
According to him, after three years of international engagement with other global experts on the subject matter and with inputs from Nigeria, the standard ISO37001:2016 on anti-bribery management systems with guidance for use was published.
The DG who was represented by the Director of Operations, Mr. Felix Nyado, stated that because Nigeria participated in and influenced the decision of the ISO Project Committee, ISO/PC 278, the standard was adopted identically by the country in January 2018 as a national standard.
In a similar vein, the elaboration of the good governance standard commenced in 2015 under UNIDO sponsorship, while the standard was concluded in October 2017 and approved by the technical committee on governance and organisations.
He explained that the principal motive in carrying out the national assignment from 2013 to date was borne out by the desire to proffer a solution to the national discourse on anti-corruption in the country leveraging on standardisation tools.
Aboloma maintained that fighting corruption in the country seems to be an insurmountable and herculean task that most administrations seem not to have overcome, adding that the Nigerian Industrial Standard on Good Governance (NIS902:2017) are proactive tools that can be used to drastically reduce corruption in the country alongside the anti-corruption laws.
He posited that since bribery and the way organisations are governed are the most contributory factors to corruption, these standards offer the country an opportunity to use these global tools to support the fight against corruption.