By Uzor Odigbo
IMallam Farouk Salim, the Director-General/Chief Executive of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), has come away In building an agency to an enviable standard since his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari 365 days ago.
This is not unconnected to the various initiatives by the current DG who has made sustained efforts to galvanise relevant stakeholders to improve standards in the delivery of goods and services in the country.
It has to be stated that it did not come as a surprise to many when Nigeria was elected into the standards management committee of the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) due to Salim’s guided strides in enforcing standards at the SON
In order to catch them young, SON has commendably held the 2019/20 ARSO essay competition for undergraduates in Nigerian tertiary institutions, as well as kick-started the 2020/21 edition.
A strategic plan to guide the activities and programmes of SON from 2021 to 2024 was approved by Salim at a strategic/leadership management retreat.
Approval has also been done for 213 new Nigeria industrial standards for stakeholders/industry use and economic growth by the SON governing council.
Some other achievements of SON within the period under review include re-equipping of the national metrology institute, Enugu; calibration of weighbridges nationwide on federal government’s directives; as well as the acquisition of landed properties in Katsina, Jigawa, Nassarawa, Kano for the construction of prototype SON regional/state/laboratory/ storage complex.
Also worthy of note is the occupation of the new SON corporate headquarters building in Abuja; relocation of SON state offices to more conducive and befitting accommodations in Jigawa, Kano and Sagamu; and relocation of state offices to SON permanent office/laboratory complexes in FCT, Kwara, Akwa Ibom and Ekiti states.
He has also ensured that the laying of the foundation stone for the construction of SON permanent office/laboratory and storage complex in Sokoto is done, even as the signing of MOU with Katsina state government on support for development and growth of MSMEs have been effected.
On Standards enforcement, the agency has confiscated N600million worth of stuffed substandard tyres in a warehouse in Ogun state and effected seizure of two containers of stuffed imported used tyres in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, among others.
Salim has also ensured the prosecution of standards infractions relating to substandard lubricants, electric cables, forgery of SON clearing documents etc
