SON issues MANCAP certificates to seven companies in Niger

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Niger ll office has issued Mandatory Conformity in Assessment Programme (MANCAP) certificates to 7 companies in suleje Niger state.
There are 12 products in all, 6 companies are food related which has water, rice and potatoes chip, a foam manufacturer that has required certification while one company had their certificates revalidated.
Speaking at the presentation of the certificates, Director General/ Chief Executive of SON, Farouk Salim said that the event was a continuation of the organisation’s mission to promote consumers’ confidence and global competitiveness of made-in-Nigeria products through standardisation and quality assurance.
Salim who was represented by the Director, North Central, Babaji Saleh commended the awardees for ensuring that their products comply with all SON processes.
He said” We gave you this certificates, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have an expiration date .What we expects from you all is that, when the certificates expires, we will be happy to see that you come with another modernized version of their products to be registered again .
“SON has the mandate to protect your business and certificates, that is why our officers will be visiting your companies from time to time for inspecting and cross examine products in ensuring that the right standard is been maintained continuously”,he noted.
He emphasized that “The certificates we are giving you all today is base on trust from the government end and from your end in order to protect the citizens”.
Meanwhile,State Coordinator SON, Niger II, Adamu S. Ahmed, said the Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme, MANCAP, is a policy put in place by the Federal Government of Nigeria; with the objective of improving quality of lives of citizens of the country by ensuring that all locally manufactured products conform to relevant Nigerian Industrial Standards.
According to Ahmed, the mancap certification has a lot of economic benefits to afford the country, which is by promoting healthy competition among domestic manufactures for individuals development .
“ It also encourages excellent products and healthy products through consistent compliance while providing confidence to the consumer that the products he or she is buying has value for his money”.
He appealed to Nigerians to always send feedback to SON, this will enable the organization to deliver more .
One of the manufacturers Mrs Hannah appreciated the SON for ensuring that all the standard are been comply and also
approving their companies.