LAGOS, JANUARY 19, 2018 – The House of Representative Committee on Industry has scored the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) high on effective implementation of budgetary provisions for its laboratory complex at Ogba, Ikeja.
The Committee Chairman, Abubakar Moriki, who led an eight-man delegate of Patrick Aisowieren; Micky Kazzim; Sam Onuigbo; Ahmad Kalambaina; Mohammed Ibrahim; Baderinwa Bamidele and Yusuf Buba praised the Director-General (DG), Osita Aboloma, for attaining 95 per cent completion of the project.
He said the inspection was necessary to ascertain the depth of implementation of 2017 budget in preparation for the passing of the 2018 appropriation bill.
The Chairman, who commended the spate of construction and equipping, said the observation of the laboratory complex will forge the basis for the provision of facilities to jump start operations.
Touring the four-storey complex, which include refrigerator testing chamber, food microbiology, food data processing unit, among others, Moriki said full operation should begin by March.
He said: “Towards the tail end of 2016, we were here and the project was at an appreciable level of completion though the equipments were not installed and positioned in their respective offices. Now in 2018 and in the process of considering the appropriation for the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), it is necessary to come and visit the facility and see other places where they are conducting their operations.”
He further urged the DG to ensure strategic distribution of the testing equipment across regional laboratories to avoid concentration in a locale.
“We should be looking forward to seeing many of these testing equipment separated all over, not necessarily concentrated in one location. It is a service you provide to many of the cement companies,” he said.
Welcoming the delegates, Aboloma said the organisation was deeply committed to realising the country’s goal of standardisation both locally and internationally.
He said the laboratory has also been designed to accommodate standardi-sation needs of the West African sub-region.
Aboloma said analysis of locally made cement components, for instance, will no longer be a challenge as a laboratory for chemical test analysis would be operational to certify strength of compression, thereby limiting the risks of building collapses.
The noted that new departments would be spread among the new phases of regional laboratories coming up in the Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest.
He said: “We have been looking forward to this visit because you are our major advisers. We are open minded and open for change. We are open to anything that would add value to the work we do. This laboratory has been accredited to ensure that anything certified in Nigeria will be acceptable all over the world.”
