Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Ambassador Mariam Katagum has commended the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), for ensuring compliance to the Ease of Doing Business policy of the Federal Government.

The minister also acknowledgment as the topmost agency of the Federal Government in the latest Ease of Doing Business index by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

Ambassador Katagum made the remarks while declaring open the SON 2022 Strategic Leadership Retreat in Uyo, Akwa Ibo State on Tuesday.

She acknowledged the determination and efforts of SON towards becoming a high performing organisation through the effective deployment of information communication technology (ICT) as part of its collective resolutions at the 2021 Strategic Leadership Retreat.

The minister went further to commend the leadership of SON for taking strategic steps and initiatives to re-engineer its processes, expand its structure and galvanize Staff towards making greater contributions to the economic diversification agenda of the government.

While assuring SON of the continuous support and encouragement of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment through the provision of policy frameworks and guidance to enhance its efforts at entrenching standardisation in Nigeria, she commended the agency for developing a strategic plan to guide its activities, programmes and projects from 2021 to 2024 as a good basis for achieving the organisation’s set goals.

The minister stated that the target SON has set for itself is a necessary impetus for an agency of Government with such an expansive mandate that have relevance to every aspect of the Nations socio-economic and security wellbeing.

Katagum reminded the Director General and Management of SON of the nation’s huge expectations in the areas of standardisation, conformity assessment, testing and metrology amongst others, in order for Nigerian products and services to be more competitive locally and internationally.

This according to her was more so in view of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement with all the opportunities and potentials it holds for Nigeria in particular.

She urged SON to pay greater attention to standards implementation and enforcement for both home made products and those imported in order to provide a level playing field as well as protect duly certified products and the companies behind them.

While speaking, the DG, SON, Mallam Farouk Salim stated that the presence of the minister added quality to the occasion, adding the message to SON managers has a challenged the organisation for continual improvement in its service delivery to stakeholders.

Mallam Farouk acknowledged the support and encouragement SON has been receiving from the Ministry, stressing that he looks forward to continuous guidance, drawing from the Ministers’ depth of knowledge and experience in navigating the ship of SON for greater efficiency and effectiveness.

•(Director General/Chief Executive SON Malalm Farouk Salim , Amdassador Aisha Katagum and former DG SON Brigadier-General EtukUdo (rtd))

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