By Franklin Alli
AS Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) joins the rest of the world to mark this year’s world standards day tomorrow, October 14, the Director General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, has emphasised zero tolerance for substandard products in the country.

World Standards Day is celebrated each year on 14 October to pay tribute to the efforts of thousands of experts worldwide who collaborate within IEC, ISO and ITU to develop voluntary International Standards that facilitate trade, spread knowledge and disseminate technological advances. The theme for this year’s celebration is “International standards — Creating confidence globally.

In Nigeria it is marked by  walk for standards, and exhibition of certified quality products as well as presentation of awards in various categories to local companies whose products have met and exceed  the Nigeria Industrial Standards (NIS) requirements.

In the past six months, he met with a number of stakeholders on the need for them to comply with the  current campaign of zero tolerance to substandard products.

“As you are already aware, we have held stakeholders meeting with our friends who deal on electrical and electronic at the Alaba International market, Lagos, to effectively sensitise and mobilise them towards the campaign.

We have also dialogue with other dealers of auto spare parts(aspamda), with Balogun brothers, Nnewi amalgamated traders association, Onitsha group, among others , and shortly, we would be meeting with the oil and gas people, including the galvanised sheets and aluminum people.

We need to ensure the safety of our country and our people, by safeguarding the products we consume, by ensuring the safety of our houses we live in, the safety of the appliances we use in our homes, factories and offices, etc,” he said.

The World Standards Day message is signed by the leaders of the three principal international standardization organizations: Dr. Klaus Wucherer, President of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC): Dr. Boris Aleshin, President of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The three organizations are the partners making up the World Standards Cooperation (WSC).

Their message points out that international standards for products and services underpin quality, ecology, safety, reliability, interoperability, efficiency and effectiveness. Standards do all of this while giving manufacturers confidence in their ability to reach out to global markets safe in the knowledge that their product will perform globally.

This is because international standards provide interoperability which in turn creates economies of scale and ensures that users can obtain equal service wherever they travel. So international standards benefit consumers, manufacturers and service providers alike. Importantly, in developing countries this accelerates the deployment of new products and services and encourages economic development.

“In today’s world we need to have a high level of expectation that things will work the way we expect them to work,” the three leaders affirm.

“We expect that when we pick up the phone we will be able to instantly connect to any other phone on the planet. We expect to be able to connect to the Internet and be provided with news and information… instantly. When we fall ill, we rely on the healthcare equipment used to treat us.  When we drive our cars, we have confidence that the engine management, steering and braking, and child safety systems are reliable.