By Taiwo Omilani
Director General designate of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Mr Timothy Olawale, has said the objective of establishing the first global indigeNigeria nous certification body is to make Nigeria products and services acceptable globally.
Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, Mr Timothy said, “The objective of the Project is to support the development of missing standards, quality control bodies and encourage improvement of quality of products and services exchanged in the Nigerian markets.”
According to him, the body, NECA’s Global Certification Limited (NGCL) target is to enhance local business competitiveness and removal of technical barriers to global trade among the indigenous companies.
This is in line with the National Quality Infrastructure Project (NQIP) objectives, which was established four years ago by the federal government.
NECA, with supports from the European Union and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), established the body.
“As a key stakeholder in the Organised Private Sector of Nigeria, we supported the establishment of NGCL (NECA’s Global Certification Limited) as an indigenous certification body,” he said.
He said further that, “In line with the NQIP objectives and with technical support from UNIDO, NGCL has successfully gone through the process for International Accreditation.”
Mr Olawale said NGCL has been internationally accredited as the first indigenous Certification Body in Nigeria to provide certification and training services for companies locally and internationally.
“The establishment of NGCL and its accreditation as a Certification Body by the Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC) assures us of better access to Certification of Management Systems, standardization, enhanced business competitiveness and removal of technical barriers to global trade.
“The accreditation of NGCL has come at a time when the focus of the government is on diversification from the Oil Sector and the promotion of exports from other Sectors. This major milestone will enhance business competitiveness, impact the quality infrastructure landscape in Nigeria and break barriers to global trade,” he said.
The NECA chief disclosed that some of the benefits of certification include: continual improvement of business management systems processes, business growth through improved productivity and profitability, assurance and confidence in the quality of goods and services further to certification by an accredited third party organization, marketability of goods and services, compliance to statutory and regulatory authorities.
Also speaking, Chief Executive Officer of NGCL, Mrs Celine Oni, said one of the good thing about the certification is that it has the backing of the International Accreditation forum, which also has Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC) as a member.
She also clarified that NGCL will certify the system and process of the products and not necessarily the end product, adding that every other government agents has a role to play in the certification of a product.
She said, “The NGCL has already taken off and more than 3000 products are already certified and 300 personnel also trained. There is no duplication with what Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is doing. The SON certifies the products, while NGCL takes care of the entire process, give proper information about the business and products. The certification in ISO 9001: 2015 shows that such product coming out of Nigeria can be trusted.”
The UNIDO representative, Mr Rotimi Olaoluwa, said the global body interest in supporting NECA, an Organized Private Sector was to ensure that quality products come out of Nigeria and to reduce the rate at which Nigeria products are being rejected internationally.
Adedapo Adesanya