Aboloma Urges Armed Forces To Embrace Quality Mgt System Certification

The Nigerian Armed Forces have been enjoined to embrace certification of their systems and processes to the world acclaimed International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) Quality Management Systems Standards.

Director General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Mr. Osita Aboloma made the call while welcoming the Chief of Army Standards and Evaluation (CASE), Major General Adekunle Shodunke to his office in Abuja.

According to the SON Director General, the command structure, precision and discipline associated with the military will be greatly enhanced by the implementation of the ISO quality management standards and principles.

He stated that standardisation is key to the economic diversification agenda of the federal government, stressing that patronage of certified made in Nigeria products is one of the keys to the economic recovery and growth plan (ERGP).

Mr. Aboloma enumerated the SON efforts at protecting the Nation’s economy and the wellbeing of the citizens as including, the Mandatory Conformity Assessment programme for locally manufactured products and the off-shore conformity assessment programme for imported products as well as the electronic product registration for quality verification and traceability of products in the Nigerian market. The SON according to him also has capacity in metrology for equipment calibration

He alluded to the long-standing cordial relationship between the Nigerian Armed Forces and the SON which has culminated in the offer of 50% discount to the former for all SON services including Laboratory testing and analysis for military fabrics.

The SON helmsman offered to support process improvement in the Nigerian military through its accredited Management systems training and certification services at 50% discount.

Also commenting at the occasion, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Chief Technical Adviser, Dr. Hussain Shaukat alluded to the competence within the SON to assist the Nigerian military towards management system training and certification and encouraged the Nigerian Army to take optimum advantage of the collaboration.

,.L – R DG, SON Mr. Osita Aboloma presenting a copy of the SON Act to Major General Shodunke while the latter’s entourage and SON Directors watch with keen interest.

He enumerated the various areas of UNIDO collaboration with SON particularly with regards to conformity assessment and metrology, stressing that the Nigerian Army stands to benefit a lot from those services.

Responding, the Chief of Army Standards and Evaluation, Major General Adekunle Shodunke noted the existing cordial relationship between the Nigerian Army Ordinance Corps and SON. He expressed the desire to take the relationship to a higher and more mutually beneficial level.

According to him, the Chief of Army Staff is keen on tapping from available competencies in SON in the area of standardisation and quality assurance and urged the SON Chief Executive and management to avail the service of possible support to improve its operations.

Major General Shodunke stated that the Army was prepared to learn from the civil society, standards which originated from the military but have been expanded in scope and content for application in all facets of life.

The CASE expressed appreciation to the SON management for the warm reception and promised to escalate all the issues raised to the Chief of Army Staff. He was accompanied on the visit by the Army Directors for Procurement; Inspection and Standards; Exercise; Combat Readiness and Safety and Deputy Director, Project Monitoring and Evaluation.