Valentine Okafor
The National Quality Council (NQC) in collaboration with the British Standards Institute (BSI) recently organized a Train the Trainers workshop for Stakeholders in Nigeria aimed at administration and completion of a matrix to gather critical data for the effective implementation of the Nigeria National Quality Policy (NNQP).
In his opening remarks, Chairman/Chief Executive of the NQC, Osita Aboloma stated that the workshop was one of many capacity development programmes under the Standards Partnership Programme (SPP) being implemented in collaboration with the BSI. According to him, the workshop was partly designed to empower Nigerian Stakeholders take due ownership of the NNQP in order to gather critical and accurate data for its implementation strategy.
Represented by his Chief of Staff, Bola Fashina, the NQC Chief Executive disclosed that the SPP was being facilitated by the Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) of the British Government in Nigeria under its Centre of Expertise projects to support the effective implementation of the NNQP and enhance seamless trading between the United Kingdom and Nigeria.
Aboloma acknowledged the valuable knowledge and experience on Quality Infrastructure development being shared with Stakeholders in Nigeria since the commencement of the SPP in September 2023, stressing that the current activities are part of the second phase of the programme.
He also emphasized the need for Nigerian Stakeholders in the public and private sectors to take optimum advantage of the Nation’s head start within the African continent, in the drafting and approval of a National Quality Policy as well as the establishment of a government organ for its implementation.
These he said, would accelerate the rapid development of Nigeria’s quality infrastructure (QI) legs, consisting of Standards, Accreditation, Metrology and Conformity Assessment and enhance the competitiveness of Made-in-Nigeria products in view of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement and the increasing emphasis on quality in global trade.
The workshop Lead Facilitator, Mike Peet stated that it was designed to assist Nigerian Stakeholders update available data in order to identify gaps within the National Quality Infrastructure and provide necessary support in the implementation plans to close them, through a pilot project to be administered on a larger scale.
Mr. Peet expressed delight at the array of Stakeholders in the public and private sectors who participated in the workshop and commended the NQC for the effective mobilization.
He stated that the African continent was looking up to Nigeria in the implementation of the NNQP and urged the participants to be committed to playing their individual roles in helping the Nation meet such great expectations while also contributing substantially to the improved competitiveness of its products and services in the global market.
Mike reminded the participants that they would be expected to share knowledge and insights gained from the workshop with other stakeholders in Nigeria in the course of the NNQP implementation.
Public sector participants in the workshop were drawn from the National Quality Council; Federal Ministries of Industry, Trade and Investment as well as Agriculture and Food Security; Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON): National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigerian Agricultural and Plant Quarantine Service (NAQS); Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC); Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and the National Action Committee on the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (NAC-AfCFTA).
The organized private sector had participants from Nigeria National Accreditation Service (NiNAS); Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN); National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA); National Association of Small-Scale Industrialists (NASSI); National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME); Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA); Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria (IPAN) and the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG).