The lack of institutional accreditation body in the country have hindered access of goods and services to other countries of the world, the Minister of State for Industry Trade and Investment, Hajia Aishat Abubakar has said.
Abubakar at the opening ceremony of the 7th African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) hosted by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in Abuja yesterday, said the establishment of a national accreditation body in the country would boost the access of goods and services of small scale to other countries.
The establishment of a well-functional national accreditation body would provide the requisite infrastructure to support the growth of the over 37 million Micro, Small and medium Enterprises in the country by enhancing their productive capacities and production processes.
“The benefits of the availability of the services to the MSMEs cannot be over-stated since it would enhance the competitiveness of their products, thereby availing them unfettered access to both domestic and international markets”.
She explained that the establishment of the body would guarantee speedy economic development of the country given the fact that SMEs form the bedrock of the economic development of most countries.
Abubakar lamented, “The situation is most severe in resources dependent countries such as Nigeria, where crude oil still remains the main stay of the country, accounting for over 80 percent of its foreign exchange earnings.”
She further stated, “This precarious situation espouses the compelling need for Nigeria and other African countries to take the necessary steps to diversify the economies and move away from over-dependence on primary commodities whose prices are usually at the whims and caprices of the international markets”
AFRAC Chairman, Mr Ron Josias believed that the establishment of a institutionalised accreditation body in Nigeria would enable the country to deal with the threat of withdrawal of accreditation services for political and economic reasons by developed economies.
He opined that it would provide Nigeria with the required platform to negotiate Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) among governments for mutual acceptance of test, inspection and certification agreements that would help save time and money for both exporters and importers
Josias noted, “The establishment of a national accreditation body that is linked with regional and international accreditation bodies can help Nigeria demonstrate competence and confidence to end users of our products and services from other regional economies that the quality of goods and services that are of origin from the country and certified by a nationally accredited certification body are safe for use.”
The 5-day meeting brought together members from more than 10 countries including Nigeria, Tunisia, Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya Mauritius and South Africa with Germany among others in attendance
The African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) is a cooperation of accreditation bodies, sub-regional accreditation cooperation and stakeholders whose objective is to facilitate trade and contribute to the protection of health, safety and the environment, in Africa and thereby improve Africa’s competitiveness.
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