NAN-HE-22
Development
By Lucy Nwachukwu
Abuja, Sept.
26, 2016 (NAN) The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar says that quality infrastructure is critical to the speedy industrial development of Africa.
Abubakar said this during her opening remarks at the 7th Africa Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) General Assembly and Meeting in Abuja on Monday.
“One critical infrastructure necessary for the expeditious industrial development of the continent, which is mostly neglected or overlooked, is the quality infrastructure.
“Lack of adequate infrastructural facilities is one of the major reasons for Africa’s inability to create the enabling environment for the attraction of the right mix of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).
“To this end, Africa needs to develop the requisite functional and sustainable infrastructure that would enhance expeditious industrial development.
“It also needs infrastructure that will facilitate intra-African Trade, which is still abysmally low, compared to other continental blocks of the world,’’ Abubakar said.
According to her, availability of the infrastructure will enable standardisation and quality assurance activities to flourish in the country.
She said that a robust quality infrastructure would increase the quality and standard of goods and services produced to make them competitive in the global market.
The minister said that it would also enable African exporters to be in a position to comply with the WTO agreements on technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures.
She said that the foregoing scenario, however, posed a challenge to African countries to formulate industrial policies and plans that would guarantee the development of sustainable quality infrastructure.
She explained that Nigeria was currently pursuing the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), for which the development of a National Quality Infrastructure was a critical component.
“The NIRP aims to create a robust industrial base for the country through reform policies that would transform industrial processes and systems.
“This will make goods and services competitive enough for the international markets and diversify the economy from over-reliance on crude oil,’’ she said.
Abubakar said that Nigeria was at the verge of obtaining a robust National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) being developed under the auspices of UNIDO with funding from the European Union.
She said the Nigeria Accreditation National Service (NINAS), one of the major pillars of the NQI, was also being established with technical support from UNIDO.
Abubakar further said the establishment of a well-functioning National Accreditation Body would provide the requisite infrastructure to support the growth of over 37 million Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
Dr Paul Angya, the Acting Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), said that the programme would chart a new course for Africa.
Angya said that this would be done through the establishment of bodies that would endorse the competences of regulatory processes through accreditation.
According to him, accreditation indicated that the accredited organisation has achieved an appropriate level of organisation proficiency.
“It indicates that the organisation has reliable mechanisms in operation to continually improve the quality of services it delivers.
“It allows you to deliver products or services with confidence with benefits that from the processes being accrued to the consumers, financiers, organisations and the economy.’’
Angya said that although most African countries had established National Standardisation Bureaus, they lacked the quality infrastructure for accreditation needed to enhance intra-African Trade with other regional economies.
He explained that establishing National Accreditation bodies among member nations in Africa and building the bodies’ capacity to internationally recognised level was a challenge that required serious efforts.
The acting director-general stated that SON had continued to provide the technical competence and support for the implementation of the NQI programme to surmount the challenges hindering business engagement with other countries.
Angya said the hosing of the meeting would provide NINAS, regulators, certification bodies and stakeholders the opportunity to gain relevant knowledge in the accreditation process.
He said it would also assist Nigerian businessmen to appreciate the importance of accreditation to trade and afford companies opportunity to attend the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation workshop among others. (NAN)
LCN/EEE
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Edited by Ese E. Ekama