Director General of Standards Organsation of Nigeria (SON) Osita Aboloma has pledged the continuous and active participation of SON as well as other standardisation stakeholders in Nigeria in the programmes of African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO).
Osita Aboloma stated this while commenting on the re-election of Nigeria as one of the 12-member Council of ARSO at the recently concluded ARSO Council Meeting and 25th General Assembly hosted by the Kenyan Government in Nairobi through the Kenyan Bureau of Standards (KEBS).
He noted that Nigeria like other member countries stands to benefit a lot from the effectiveness of ARSO in the area of intra-African and international trade facilitation through improved competitiveness of African products hinged on harmonisation of standards and conformity assessment procedures.
The 37-member body is the continental intergovernmental Standardisation body established in 1977 to harmonise African Standards and Conformity Assessment Procedures in order to reduce technical barriers to trade, promote intra-African and international trade as well as enhance the industrialisation of the Continent.
Nigeria as a founding member of the Organisation has participated actively in the activities since inception. Two Nigerian staff of SON had over the years occupied the position of Secretary General of ARSO while a former Director General of the organisation was President between 2014 and 2016.
The country is actively involved in the Technical Harmonisation Committees of ARSO and is currently Chairman of the THC 05 for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Nigeria had hosted the ARSO Council Meeting and General Assembly as well as the maiden ARSO President’s Forum in Lagos and Abuja respectively.
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