SON takes standards to the streets with road walk initiative

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) took its message of strengthening standards and trade through collaboration to the streets of Lagos, culminating in a successful road walk that showcased the organisation’s commitment to promoting quality and safety.

The SON Director General, Ifeanyi Okeke, who led the mammoth crowd of staff, stakeholders comprising of government agencies, private sector, and civil society in the barely two hours road walk from Ogba office through Adeniyi Jones, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, and Oba Akran Avenue before returning to the Ogba office.

He highlighted the significance of partnerships in achieving sustainable development goals, particularly Goal 17, in marking the 2025 World Standards Day celebration.

Okeke emphasized that the exercise was aimed at raising awareness on the importance of standards in ensuring product quality, safety, and reliability, that collaboration and partnership are essential in promoting economic growth.

On Commitment to Quality Standards

SON’s commitment to quality standards, according to Okeke stands to highlight the agency’s commitment to ensuring that products meet international standards, citing the organization’s certification program, SONEXCAP, which enables products to be accepted in most African countries.

He encouraged stakeholders to support SON’s efforts in promoting exports and ensuring that products meet international standards.

The DG highlighted the importance of national quality infrastructure in determining Nigeria’s level of development, emphasizing that conformity assessments cannot be done alone. He called for support in accrediting organisations globally to test and certify products, ensuring that imported products meet Nigeria’s standards.

Call to Action

The SON Director General called on the public to support the organization’s efforts in promoting standards and ensuring product quality. He emphasized that by working together, SON can ensure that Nigeria’s development goals, including food security, industrialisation, energy transition, and trade expansions are achieved.

Okeke emphasised that conformity assessments cannot be done alone and that SON needs collaboration, partnership, and cooperation to ensure that imported and exported products meet required standards.

Success of Road Walk

The road walk no doubt marked a significant milestone in SON’s efforts to discourage/enlighten the public on the adverse effects of fake and substandard products; highlighting the gains and importance of insisting on standards only.

Participants who indeed took thier time off, blended into the charged atmosphere with enthusiasm from pulsing beats pouring from a DJ’s van rolling slowly behind, handing-in SON’s flyers to bystanders, some of the participants in the other hand caused some flyers to flutter colourfully in the air all in thier avowed determination to pass across the message of standards and quality