The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) ) has certified 13 manufacturers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for maintaining consistency in the quality of their products.

SON FCT Coordinator, Mr Gambo Dimka, said this at the organisation’s “Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) certificate presentation recently in Abuja.

Dimka congratulated the manufacturers for embracing standards in their products and for maintaining quality infrastructure in the face of COVID-19 pandemic. According to him, they have displayed consistency in the quality of goods produced overtime to merit the certificates.

Dimka said that SON was happy to celebrate their feats.

He said that the programme was to ensure that all manufactured products conformed to standards prior to sales in the market or exportation.

Dimka said that it was also aimed at protecting genuine manufacturers against unhealthy practices such as production of substandard products, faking, counterfeiting as well as unfair competition in trade.

He said that this would provide consumers with confidence that products manufactured in the country were fit and safe for the intended use.

“Products that are qualified under the scheme are issued with MANCAP certificate and National Industrial Standard (NIS) logo with unique identification mark.

” In many industrial sectors, the elaboration of standards and quality infrastructure is crucial for maintaining the quality of medical products and services,” he said.

Dimka said that failure to observe rules for medical products could result in goods not making it to the market, adding that it could also have negative implication for human health and safety.

He noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had highlighted the importance of quality infrastructure and standards in ensuring availability of key medical devices in the country.

Mr Odun Emasealu, Chairman, FCT chapter, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) called for the reduction of personal income tax for workers to 10 per cent to stimulate consumption and increase production in the country.

Emasealu said importers should also be granted waivers on demurrage, while commending the effort of government in addressing the supply side of the manufacturing equation.

He, however, said that it would not augur well if agencies of government were cooperating with manufacturers but no one to purchase the goods due to weak purchasing power.

“The purchasing power of Nigerians especially workers has reduced, the other side of demand must be taken into consideration, there is need for credit schemes for buyers, this will improve the performance of the economy,” he said.

Some of the manufacturers  who were certified were at the event included -Power Line Concrete Electric Pole Ltd, Accurate Paints, Zenah Table Water, Libra Venture Ltd, Sack foam and Dharul Hijrah Fertiliser.

Mr Leonard Moses, Chairman, Accurate Chemical and Allied Industry Ltd commended SON for striving to ensure production of quality goods in the country through strict supervision.

Mr Lottanna Osigne, representative, Power line Concrete Electric Pole Ltd, lauded SON for its supervisory role in maintaining standards in Nigeria.