Ime Akpan
The federal government has directed all its ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to henceforth patronize the internationally accredited services of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) for the certification of their management systems and processes in accordance with international best practices.
A circular from the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha informed all MDAs of the attainment of international accreditation for the SON Management Systems Certification (MSC) services and to save foreign exchange
The scope of the accreditation, according to the circular, covers four certification recognised by International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) namely: Quality Management Systems (QMS) Standards, Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Standards, Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) Standards and Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS) Standards.
Mustapha therefore directed all the MDAs to take optimum advantage of the SON MSC services in line with the Presidential Executive Order 4 on support of local content.
He stated that patronage of SON MSC would lead to huge savings in foreign exchange hitherto expended by some MDAs in procuring such services from foreign organisations.
Commenting on Mustapha’s directive, the director general of SON, Mr. Osita Aboloma said the accreditation would place the agency on the same pedestal with its contemporaries in Europe, America, Asia and some parts of Africa.
He said international accreditation of the MSC services followed on the heels of a similar attainment for its training services which focus on development of national capacity in international management systems standards.
He recalled that the SON Training Services (STS) Centre received certification by the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) and the International Register of Certified Auditors (IRCA) as an Approved Training Partner (ATP) in 2018.
The centre has thus become the first CQI and IRCA approved Training Centre in Nigeria and the West African Region to offer certified courses by the two international institutions.
Aboloma disclosed that the MSC accreditation and STS international recognition formed part of the overall repositioning of the agency’s services for global competitiveness as well as promoting ease of doing business in the public and private sectors in Nigeria.
He said efforts were being made to attain international accreditation for the organisation’s other service offerings for global acceptance and promotion of international trade.
Meanwhile, he said over 300 private sector organisations and institutions in Nigeria had already been certified by the SON MSC in addition to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), with visible benefits in higher productivity, efficiency and responsiveness.
