By Franklin Alli
Standards Organisation of Nigeria(SON) is set to launch the newly developed ISO 26000 Social Responsibility Standard, according to the Director General, Dr. John Ndanusa Akanya.

The benchmark was recently developed by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) , and it will be unveiled to stakeholders in the   country next month.

In view of this, SON, has therefore, has scheduled a two-day national workshop to sensitize stakeholders and create awareness on the ISO 26000 serves as the benchmark for measurement of all social responsibility activities and reporting by all strata of society in the country.

The workshop scheduled for Abuja in the third week of October, 2010 according to Dr. Akanya, will be jointly  facilitated by an expert from the ISO Headquarters, Mr. Martin Neureiter, along with the organisation’s resource persons.

He said further that the workshop is aimed among others to further improve understanding of social responsibility standard concepts, vision and importance with a view to understanding its implications for organisations in the country.

“It also aims to develop the way forward in preparing for the uptake and use of the standard by interested parties as well as to establish national strategies and develop a road map for social responsibility in Nigeria.”

He urged all stakeholders (Governments, manufacturing and service industries, labour, consumer associations) to take maximum advantage of the opportunity provided by the workshop to avail themselves of details of the social responsibility standard as a way of promoting good corporate governance, ensuring accurate and verifiable measurement of all social responsibility activities.