Yemisi Izuora
The Federal Government has taken steps to conserve its foreign exchange by directing its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to patronise 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.
The patronage would lead to huge savings in foreign exchange hitherto expended by some MDAs in procuring such services from foreign organisations.
A circular from Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), informed all MDAs of the attainment of international accreditation for the SON Management Systems Certification (MSC) services.
The scope of the accreditation according to the circular covers four International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standards 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.
The SGF therefore, directed all the MDAs to take optimum advantage of the SON Management Systems Certification services in line with the Presidential Executive Order 04 on support for local content.
Commenting on the SGF directive, the director general of SON, Osita Aboloma, disclosed that the accreditation had brought his agency at par with its contemporaries in Europe, America, Asia and some parts of Africa.
According to him, SON international accreditation of its MSC services follows on the heels of a similar attainment for its training services, which focuses 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 thus became the first CQI and IRCA approved training centre in Nigeria and the West African region to offer certified courses by the two international institutions, he said.
Aboloma disclosed that the MSC accreditation and STS international recognition form 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.
The SON Chief Executive stated that concerted efforts were ongoing to attain international accreditation for the organisation’s other service offerings for global acceptance and promotion of international trade with, and investment in Nigeria.
Aboloma reiterated that over 300 private sector organisations and institutions in Nigeria were already 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.
He listed the SON-MSC quality objectives as including “to achieve efficient and prompt service delivery to clients, ensure prompt resolution of all complaints as well as regular updating of its auditors’ knowledge and skills.’’