Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria, through the Small and Medium Development Agency (SMEDAN) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and Cameroon, via the Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion Agency (SMEPA) and the Standards and Quality Agency (ANOR), have agreed to strengthen trade relationship to enhance free flow of goods and services using the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of both countries to achieve these.
This followed a working visit of SMEPA representatives to SON Corporate Headquarters led by officials of the SMEDAN as part of a study tour to Nigeria.
Dr Friday Okpara, Director, Policy, Partnership and Coordination, SMEDAN, expressed his delight for the opportunity of an open exchange of ideas to enable the SMEPA delegation gain from Nigeria’s rich experience in standardization and quality assurance support to MSMEs.
On his part, the Deputy General Manager, SMEPA-Cameroon, Mr. Ewusi Mbongo Eric described the visit as an opportunity for the 5-year old agency to study the SON structures in supporting MSMEs development in Nigeria, for replication with the Standards and Quality Agency of Cameroon (ANOR).
He also said the visit served to answer the recurring enquiries from MSMEs in Cameroon which bothered on regulatory compliance required for seamless trading with Nigeria.
Adding his comment, Mr. Tersoo Orngudwem, Director, Product Certification, SON, noted that the visit underscored the efforts of African Governments to access and rationalize technical capacities within the Continent to facilitate trading across borders, being championed through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
He also said that his organisation has a technical co-operation with ANOR and disclosed that Nigeria was at the forefront of the election of Cameroon as the current President of the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) for the term 2019-2022.
He enumerated SON’s efforts in supporting Government policies on MSMEs through subsidized sale of standards, testing, training and importation of raw materials and machinery specifically to alleviate the challenges of MSMEs in meeting regulatory requirements.
