The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) will be setting up a laboratory that will test and certify standards for goods produced in Nigeria.
Its Director General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, disclosed this during an inspection of the product line of Dozzy Group of Companies Limited at the Habour Industrial cluster, Atani, Ogbaru Council Area of Anambra State.
According to him, when it begins operation, the laboratory will save Nigerian manufacturers the cost and inconvenience of having to go abroad for product certification.
“What we have done now is to set up laboratories so that when test these products in Nigeria, they don’t need to be tested anywhere else in the world because they will be accepted,” he said.
Odumodu lamented the damage which overdependence on imported goods is doing to the economy. He said that 80 per cent of the goods consumed in Nigeria are imported.
“We export less than five per cent of goods produced in Nigeria and they are mainly primary goods,” he added.
The SON boss said the irony of it all is that the raw goods exported from Nigeria are repackaged and sent back to Nigeria at 10 times the price for which they were exported.
“If you take cashew nut for instance, a kilo of cashew nut is exported at $5 but when it is repackaged and sent back, we buy it at $25 per kilo,” he said.
Odumodu praised the courage of the founder of Dozzy Group, Chief Daniel Chukwudozie for venturing into manufacturing, saying it is one sure way of boosting the economy.
He said Nigeria does not only need to export finished goods but also to have its workers export their services abroad.
“Each time you see a container carried by, know that the containers are not only carrying imported goods, but also paying the salaries of foreign workers in China, India and other places where the container is coming from,” he said.
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