Imperatives of Inter-agency Collaboration
Jonathan Eze writes on why the federal government should intervene in the inter-agency crisis between the Standards Organisation of Nigeria and the Raw Materials Research and Development Council and the need for collaboration and synergy towards achieving
Before the multi-billion naira laboratory of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) was inaugurated some years ago, Nigeria had to depend on neighbouring country, Ghana to export products to the world. This was because the country’s products faced rejection in international market with statistics showing that Nigeria recorded the highest number of rejects in the global market when compared with other countries in the African continent.
And since the internationally certified laboratory was established, non-oil exports have received a major boost as products after being tested and certified by the SON were no longer subjected to any kind of testing anywhere in the world.
A former Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Segun Aganga, once described the laboratory as an integral part of the national quality infrastructure which the federal government had built for the country through SON.
This state-of-the-art laboratory made it easy for the agency to carry out quality test on the different sub-standard products that finds its way to the country and such is conducted without delay and according to international standards.
Now, this multi-purpose laboratory is being threatened with the seemingly cold war between (SON) and the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) over the Lekki building hosting the laboratory. And over 400 staff of the agency, which is one parastatals of the federal government that had championed the ‘patronise Made in Nigeria Campaign’, effectively keyed into the current administration’s Ease of Doing Business mantra, boosted confidence in Nigerian-made products, as well initiated policies backing the government’s job-creation agenda through the avenue of agriculture revolution.
Under the leadership of Mr. Osita Aboloma, the Director-General of the agency, SON has witnessed a monumental turn-around not only in saving the country from the attendant damages associated with sub-standard products but had gone miles away in sensitising the public on the need to beware of these harmful products and to report cases of factories or warehouses where such products are being kept or produced.
The result of the agency’s dynamic approach is the almost weekly sealing of warehouses with such harmful products and confistication of such until they are publicly destroyed.
However, these achievements, are now under threat following the simmering contest over the Lagos building, hence an urgent reason why the federal government should intervene to save the situation.
THISDAY gathered that RMRDC is threatening to eject the SON from the Lekki office, despite a gentleman’s agreement of several years, bothering on mutual swap of officially allocated premises on the one hand, as well as the grievous harm this will do to the Federal Government of Nigeria ‘s products testing scheme managed by the SON.
The premises in question was allegedly being developed by the RMRDC about the time of the relocation of the federal government seat to Abuja, but eventually left unused for about 18 years. It was, however, re-allocated to SON sometime in 2000 by the office of the Head of Service of the Federation, and the agency carried out a massive renovation of the entire structure to make it habitable.
SON had since year 2000 been responsible for its overall maintenance including the provision of electricity and water to a floor occupied by RMRDC.
Not only did it relocate its Headquarters from the then Federal Secretariat Complex, Ikoyi to the Lekki Phase 1 building, it has invested so much in constructing tnrer additional structures accommodating many of its Laboratories including two internationally accredited food technology and chemical testing laboratories in furtherance of the economic diversification agenda.
The mycotoxin and food fortificant labora- tories are located in the premises while it also accommodates one of SON three State offices in Lagos State in view of the concentration of manufacturing and seaports in the state.
The fact that the SON is key to providing requisite standards and acceptable certifications for non-oil products towards self-sufficiency, exports and increased foreign exchange earnings, is not in question.
THISDAY gathered that RMRDC uses just one of the five flours with less than 15 staff, as against the SON’s over 400 staff and internationally accredited agencies carrying out the latter’s off-shore Conformity Assessment Programmes for imported products worldwide. The menace of substandard products is a great threat to the security of the Nation and the safety and wellbeing of its people.
Given the obvious fact that the building has more utility value for the SON, which is championing the fight against substandard products, it is expected that SON should be allowed to continue the usage of the building and facilities in question especially when one recalls that the “Ship House” in Abuja as it is popularly called was built by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) but it is today occupied by the Federal Ministry of Defence.
In the case between the SON and the RMRDC, there are also indications that the earlier mentioned swap involved the latter taking over a building allocated to the former in Abuja in exchange for the one in Lekki, which made it keep mum all this while.But the question industrialists are asking are that with the feat already recorded by SON with the development of requisite capacity to test food and agricultural produce for international acceptance through the accreditation of its Laboratories by SON, should Nigeria throw this away on the altar of unfounded rivalry or whatever other factor.
Will Nigeria’s economic interest be served positively if the RMRDC succeeds in ejecting SON from the premises in Lagos that accommodates its operational Headquarters, internationally accredited Laboratories and the international accredited firms (IAFs) operating its off-shore conformity assessment programme for imported products?
These and more are the many questions begging for answer even as the agency hopes for quick intervention from higher quarters before more harm is done to the nation’s economy.
The SON should be encouraged to fight sub- standard products. There must be a synergy between the two sister agencies. The public too should play its part in reporting saboteurs to the agency and according to Aboloma in a recent event, he urged the citizens to volunteer information that can lead to the arrest of importers and promoters of substandard products in the country.
According to him, the job of preventing substandard products is not an easy one, but something that requires consistency and concerted efforts to tackle.
“This is why I implore Nigerians that if you see something, say something; at the end of the day, we must get it right as a nation,” Aboloma said.
Among the agency’s many achievements was the launch of the Product Authentication Mark (PAM) which is intended to raise the patronage of made-in-Nigeria products and boost the country’s economic diversification drive from oil to non-oil sector and check substandard products.
The PAM is a mark of quality fixed on all finished products to demonstrate their conformity to approved standards. It is issued as a sticker with security features and QR code which can be scanned by a smart phone. It is applied on each product to ensure traceability and tracking of imported and local products.
Aboloma said PAM would reduce counterfeiting of products which had become a clog in the wheel of the progress of local manufacturers, adding that it was one of the federal government’s initiatives targeted at improving the business
“We started it because counterfeiting is an age-long menace that has burdened us, leading to the influx of substandard goods in Nigeria. It also makes it difficult for local manufacturers to be competitive,” he said.
“It is our opportunity to deploy technology and authenticate products shipped into the Nigerian market,” he said. Certain items such as food products, drugs, and machineries of manufacturers, among others, are exempted from PAM, which will tentatively take effect on February 1, 2018.
With the many programmes lined up by SON in the New Year, the federal government should adequately support the agency to deliver adequately on its mandate especially of riding the country of sub -standard products.
The fact that the SON is key to providing requisite standards and acceptable certifications for nonoil products towards self-sufficiency, exports and increased foreign exchange earnings, is not in question