According to him, market penetration is key, saying that without market penetration, Nigeria will only gaze at all the 1.4 billion people’s market in Africa.

In his words: “One thing all over the world that has been acknowledged is that what we cannot measure, we cannot value. So, for us, today marks a milestone in our quality infrastructure programme in Nigeria. SON is blazing the trail in ensuring that not only our big companies that are located in centres that we can access, but where vehicles can move to remote areas in Nigeria to deliver the measurement service.

“For us, it is important because we are not only going to ensure the quality and the right quantum of our products, but for buyers to know what they are buying and for the sellers they know what they are selling. It is a win-win situation for us and we have said it over again that it is in our interest to give SON the right support needed.”

Also speaking, the Director General, SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, said going forward, the agency would be engaging in public awareness to promote and protect safety, stressing that public awareness will also highlight the importance of calibration to improving the quality of lives in general.

“As we are all aware, the plague caused by substandard products to our nation cannot be over-emphasised as seen in declining foreign exchange, surging unemployment and insecurity. In addition, of course, the closing of factories.”

To address this challenge, the SON boss said his administration has set out to strengthen available measures to fight substandard products across the country.
He also announced plans that the standards body would be unleashing a massive calibration service campaign across the country in its bid to drive industrialisation as well Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) development in Nigeria.

Salim, at the inauguration of mobile calibrate vehicles and measurement equipment in Lagos, said under his leadership, the standards body would be expanding its services through mobile laboratory facilities, explaining that imbibing the culture of regular calibration of equipment, operators in the industry would get it right, lives would be saved while economic development is assured.

According to him, with SON’s state of the art mobile collaboration services remote areas will be served, thereby enhancing the nation’s economic growth and the benefits of calibrations.

On his part, the Director, Nigeria Metrology Institute (NMI), SON, Bede Obayi, said the journey to taking calibration services to MSMEs and other valuable stakeholders in their locations, has been a long but continual one starting from 2008 to date in SON’s quest to enhance the metrology value chain in Nigeria.

He said the NMI has been established for the dissemination of measurement standards and providing traceability and accuracy of measurements to the industries, laboratories, trade and commerce, aviation, oil and gas, agriculture, health, education, automotive, mining, power and others.

“This means that metrology is life and life begets all developments and advancements in technology towards better living. The scope of NMI of SON is varied and significant as the sole representative of Nigeria at the International Bureau for Weights and Measures (BIPM) situated in France, for all world metrology matters (scientific and industrial),” he said.