Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Director General, Farouk Salim, yesterday, said the organisation has chosen to build its laboratory complex in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
The laboratory will be cited at the sprawling Ayade Industrial Park, Calabar, which houses a cluster of industries built by the Governor Ben Ayade-led administration.
Speaking during inspection of the park, Salim said the size of the industrial park and the industries therein was amazing despite Cross River’s meagre federal allocation.
Salim expressed SON’s readiness to certify the products of the industrial park after passing through the certification process.
“It is amazing what has been done here by the governor and to think it was done despite Cross River being number 35 out of 36 in the country in terms of allocation.
“It is amazing that with that little income, the state has been able to harness and build such a facility. It is quite impressive and the most important thing about this facility is that, locally, it is going to create many opportunities for people from farmers, to processors and to the off-takers who sell the products. It is a very interesting and a special approach by a state government and I have not seen such, so far, in the country,” he said.
He described the industrial park as “one of the choice areas in the state and it is a wonderful opportunity for our organisation to site our operations here,” he said.
Responding, Governor Ayade thanked SON for the decision to cite its laboratory complex in Calabar, describing the move as a validation of his industrialisation policy and dividend of socketing to the central government.
“But I think Cross Riverians should know at this point that our socketing into the centre by moving to the All Progressives Congress is beginning to yield far much more dividends at a speed I never imagined.
“Today, we have SON here, not by any proxy, but by the director general himself coming here, making a choice of a location to build a SON complex in Calabar and we have given them a place at our ultra modern industrial park.
“I am quite excited at the opportunity that SON is bringing to Cross River State and this would not have been possible if we didn’t have this socketing to the centre principle,” the governor said.