The Director General of Standards Organization of Nigeria, (SON,), Mr Osita Aboloma, has warned manufacturers of products and service providers that have direct impact on safety and health of consumers against sharp practices in their measurement.
This, the agency said had become necessary so as to avoid growing disasters such as building collapse, tires burst and fuel adulteration that usually result to mass deaths.
Aboloma gave the charge at the weekend in Ado Ekiti at a One-day sensitization programme on “Importance of Metrology for Quality Assurance for stakeholders in the South-west.”
The Son DG represented by South-west Regional Coordinator, Mrs Tosan Akosile, said the agency was worried at the increasing inconsistency in the measures and units used to evaluate products and services in the country.
“SON is deeply alarmed at this practice which has significantly reduced economic growth and integrity of services in the country”, he said. He described metrology as science of measurement which must not be ignored during any production process.
According to him; “Measurement is an important part of our everyday lives, the iron rod maker, the fuel dealer, the agro-produce farmer, the vulcanizer, the exporter, the gas distributor the engineer on site, among others, must all ensure that measurement of products and services are done accurately if they will deliver quality and value to the customers.
“Measurement has always been needed to facilitate trade. Business and commercial processes can not be regarded to be fair and honest when the weights and measures are inappropriate,” he said.
Also speaking,via a lecture titled; “Importance of Metrology in Quality Assurance”, an expert, Mr Olalekan Omoniyi raised the alarm that many of the nation’s products meant for export had often been rejected, largely because of inaccurate measurement arising from lack of functional quality control policy.
According to him, history of metrology and measurement work together, and that through such mechanism, consumers do not get cheated.
He insisted that every form of manufactured product and others needed metrology, so as not to keep consumers in doubt about their safety.
“No business can be conducted unless each person is sure the other person is being fair and honest. Fair and honest trade need accurate weights and measures”, he said.
Earlier while welcoming the participants, the Head of SON in Ekiti state, Mr Ayeni Feyisayo, urged them to translate the knowledge gained into action in their various callings by imbibing culture of correct measurements on their products.
