FG To Boost Intra Africa Trade With Metrological Infrastructure

..As Enugu State Government Lauds SON’s Metrology Institute

Worried about the assessed low level of trade between African countries, the Federal Government has disclosed plans to boost trade within the region by deploying metrological infrastructure.

Indeed, the government  said that the imperative of developing, strengthening and upgrading the national metrological infrastructure to facilitate trade, enhance export, accelerate economic development and protect the environment cannot be over emphasized.

Meanwhile, the Enugu State, Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, at the 12^th AFRIMETS General Assembly and Related Meetings in Enugu, where over 25 African countries were represented reaffirmed the State government’s support to SON to deliver on its core mandate.

He pointed out that the importance of metrology cannot be overemphasized, stating that it helps to bring about uniformity in trade, serves as  mechanism to ensure that the unsuspecting Nigerian consumers and Africans at large are not shortchanged of their hard earned money.

“As a government, we will continue to pledge our necessary support and assistance towards the attainment of SON’s quest to rid Nigeria of substandard products. We have seen that the road leading to the institute  and we will definitely do something about the road, because we believe in this project to bring about the much needed development ,” Ugwuanyi said.

Earlier, the Director General (DG), SON- Osita Aboloma, added that the present administration- through SON- has committed resources to human capacity development in metrology and instrumentation.

He noted that SON has- over the last few years- made concerted efforts at creating awareness on metrology services and their benefits to the nation’s economy and the welfare of its people.

The DG explained that Nigeria’s hosting of the technical committee meetings and general assembly of AFRIMETS was to further boost stakeholders’ awareness of the benefits of metrology to Nigeria and the African continent at large.

While restating SON’s efforts at driving the national quality infrastructure project, Aboloma said Nigeria’s membership of AFRIMETS and other continental and international standardization bodies is a deliberate effort in ensuring that the nation participates actively in inter-laboratory comparisons amongst National Institutes of Metrology (NMIs).

According to him, over the last three decades, SON- with the active support of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) and encouragement from its development partners  have made huge investments in developing human capacities in the field of metrology.

The DG also stated: “I must state however that we still require a lot more training to update the capacities of our NMI staff, and thus look forward to more support from our development partners in that area.

“We have also committed huge resources into developing material capacity in collaboration with our development partners- as you will see during the tour of the NMI site.

The Chairman, AFRIMETS, Mr. Denis Maturity, said the thrust of the event was to take its meetings to Africa trying to create awareness on the impact of metrology in intra Africa trade.

”This project is in line with the African Union’s effort to facilitate trade within the continent,” he said.

He said that tgeir serious need for Frican to increase trade among  themselves  to boost growth.

Also speaking at the event, the Chairman, Governing Council, SON- Mr. Edet Akpan- said creating awareness in the science of accurate measurement in Africa and assisting in the development and strengthening of metrology infrastructure within the continent are necessary impetus for industrial growth, through improved competitiveness of products from Africa.

He  was represented  by Dr Ifeanyi Okoye, an Executive  Member of Manufacturers  Association  of Nigeria added that metrology is one of the components of Nigeria’s national quality infrastructure project that is central to the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) of the present administration.

The Regional Director, UNIDO, Jean Bakole, said SON’s metrology institute is the first metrology Institute in the country, stressing that the institute would help to add value to goods manufactured by Nigerian companies to gain acceptability in Africa and world over.

“The Institute will go a long way to add to the value of products coming out of the manufacturing industry. It would also ensure that all products coming out of this country is well calibrated to meet the required standards for Africa trade. This is a big achievement and going forward, we will need the best experiences from different African countries present here to drive metrology,” he said.