Katsina, SON brainstorm on SMEs growth

 

sonThe Katsina State Government has pledged to offer needed support to the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to ensure the growth of Micro, Small & Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) across the country.

 

Speaking recently at a sensitization workshop in Katsina tagged: ‘Standards Promote Business Growth and Sustainability’, Katsina State governor, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, underscored the critical place and role of MSMEs towards the nation’s march to non-oil economy, diversification and export drive.

 

Katsina State Government has stated its readiness to collaborate with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to ensure the production and circulation of standard and quality local products in the state and the country at large.

 

It declared that strict adherence and compliance to standards remain the back bone in the quest for a sustainable non-oil economy which the present administration has been propagating. Speaking during a sensitization programme for Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Katsina, Governor Aminu Bello Masari, maintained that sustainable economic development is matched with standards and quality control regime while commending the SON Management for putting in place quality conformity benchmarks which would help the nation attain economic diversification.

 

The decision of the SON Management to embark on this sensitization programme is indeed coming at the right time when the federal government is promoting self-sufficiency through adequate utilization of agriculture, our non-oil resources, for economic sustenance, Standards and agriculture are therefore veritable tools for achieving the goals of government to meet the needs of our citizens and promote our economy. The major advantage some foreign products have over made in Nigeria goods is simply compliance to standards. Katsina State government in collaboration with SON will not relent in its efforts to strategise and promote made in Nigeria goods and that is why we take the sensitization programme serious, Governor Masari deposed.

 

He said the state government courtesy of its ‘Restoration Agenda’ on Agriculture and Industrialization was totally committed to ensuring the creation of enabling environment for investments, citing the recently held ‘Katsina State Economic and Investment Summit’ as a clear demonstration of the commitment.

 

“The State government is ready to synergize with SON to ensure that goods produced in the state meet required standards for local consumption and exports. The state government will continue to support SON in building an institution with the overall capacity to meet the needs of the agricultural and industrial sectors of the state especially at the grassroots level. The presence of SON should be felt at all levels of the economy in order to aid the development of indigenous products to world standards, eliminate the distribution of sub-standard products across the country as well as alleviate poverty among our rural populace,” the state governor reiterated.

 

According to him, the state government has been making frantic efforts in its development projects to promote patronage of locally made goods for Nigeria’s economic growth. ‘Producers must endeavour to adopt the culture of compliance to standards so as to support Government’s efforts towards fostering conducive economic environment.

 

Masari charged all stakeholders including local government officials, traditional rulers, MSMEs and agro-allied operators to cooperate with SON by ensuring certifications of their products.

 

While congratulating SON for the recent amendment of its Enabling Act, the governor urged the agency’s officials to ensure that standard violators in the country are arrested and successfully prosecuted.

 

Earlier, the Acting Director General of SON, Dr. Paul Angya, declared that purveyors of sub-standard products are economic saboteurs who should be treated as such, saying they endanger lives and property while hindering industrial and economic growth.