AfCFTA: SON to establish laboratory in northern zone to facilitate export

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

As the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) commences in January 2021, Nigeria needs to have the presence and impact of the Standard Organization of Nigeria(SON) felt in the northern part of the country.

This was said would place the country on the part to harnessing the gains of the trade, Nigeria needs to be back on the map as an industrious, and exporter of goods.

It has become imperative for the agency to have a befitting office and laboratory in Kano State which according to the Director General, SON, Mallam Salim Farouk is the largest State and city in the country.

The Director General stated this when he paid a courtesy visit to the Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje.

Farouk and the governor were unanimous in their resolve to explore and identify ways of penetrating the Middle East Market with quality exports.

To this end, the parties have agreed to collaborate in providing needed assistance for effective service delivery which includes breaking the barrier of Northern manufacturers moving down across the River Niger to get their goods certified 50 years after creation of the regulatory body.

Farouk said, “I want to state our need as an organisation to have a befitting office and laboratory so that we can standardise products here, protect lives and industries in Kano.

“We are not very proud of our record here in Kano, because after 50 years, we do not have a befitting office or laboratory considering Kano State being the largest State and city in the whole country. Kano has a very large industrial base and the Governor is trying to revive the industrial sector.

“It will be wonderful if our ability to standardize food and other products would be encouraged by having a laboratory here in Kano to certify products to be exported to other parts of the world,’’ he noted.

He said as the AfCFTA is scheduled to commence in January 2021, ‘‘Nigerians should expect robust inspection; robust inspection of the rules; robust prosecution of violators of standards.

“We also require some cooperation from members of the business community which include the manufacturers, importers, marketers and consumers. We are also setting up a website where people can report fraudulent deals from SON as the AFCFTA draws nearer,’’ he added.

Ganduje in his response said there is no doubt in the fact that SON need a befitting office and a laboratory in Kano to raise the bar of the agency.

He said, “I have heard all your requests, all we need now is a letter from your organisation telling us your specifications and requirements so that we will direct the appropriate ministry to provide you this service. SON is vital to the nation’s development and we will continue to support you to achieve your mandate,’’ he assured.

The governor stressed the need to strengthen SON to make the nation’s local industries to be competitive, saying that the Middle-East market is available for Nigeria’s export of quality products since she imports most of its food needs.

He expressed confidence in the ability of the Director General to improve the agency’s services being provided locally, nationally and internationally.

In his words, ‘‘There is no doubt that without standards, we all know how we would have fared in terms of being competitive in dealing with the international market, hence we need to deepen and widen the agency’s responsibilities to boost export of locally made goods.’’

He added that recently, the federal government banned the importation of some food items in its bid to make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production, saying that this would attract both foreign and local investment to boost food production in Nigeria.

‘‘Nigeria is trying to be self-sufficient and already the president, Muhammadu Buhari, has banned the importation of some food items and some countries are in trouble because we no longer import food items from them, so in order to feed ourselves well, we need standards, the right quality for the food that we eat and for export,” Ganduje stated.