Army partners SON on quality military products

Determined to ensure that military equipment and products meet quality and standards benchmarks, the Nigeria Army has entered into a working partnership with the nation’s standards regulatory body, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON)
The Nigerian Armed Forces, NAF, has concluded plans to enter into agreement with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, on quality assurance of all products deployed for the use of military.
Speaking at the meeting of both parties to deliberate on the proposed partnership at the SON Operational office in Lagos on the weekend, the Director, Provisioning, Nigerian Army, Brig. Gen. Patrick Eze, who led the Army delegation to SON’s office, said the NAF was trying to comply with the Federal Government’s policy on internal sourcing of materials, and had to be sure that all items used by the Army meet both national and international standards.
He maintained that it was pertinent for NAF to partner with SON to ascertain the standards of all items including uniform, shoes and weapons, arguing that, if the weapons used by the Army are of low quality, it would affect the security of the nation.
He said, “As the Federal Government continues to emphasise on patronage of local industries, Nigerian Army is set to comply with that policy. And as Nigerian Army Ordinance Corps, we are in charge of all items received into the Nigerian Army Armoury and we must ensure that all the items received meet up with not only Army standard, but also international and local standards.
“That is why we have come to collaborate with SON being the experts to ensure that all items used by the Armed Forces are of high quality so that they do not pose unnecessary danger if they lack the required quality.”
The Army Chief disclosed that the partnership with SON and NAFDAC was highly necessary since the NAF does not have the technology to determine the quality of the items include weapons received, saying that the contractors would only bring them sample and the items would be supplied.
It urged SON to set up laboratories within the army environment for update test of such items.
Responding, the Director General of SON, Mr. Osita Aboloma, said the agency had standards for military equipment, only they were not directed to Army. He maintained that there were established standards for all military items including their uniforms, shoes, socks and their weapons, which needed to be reviewed.
Aboloma, who said standards are life and life document which are not supposed to be static, informed that the two agencies would set up a committee that would look into what could be produced locally and set standards for the locally produced items and those imported especially meant for the army. He added that the committee would review the established standards for the military to be abreast of modern innovations.
“The priority of SON now is to protect local production, we need to regulate them to meet international standards without compromising the quality.
“We are to monitor whatever the government and all other parastatals buy including the vehicles and weapons used by the armed forces.
“We shall set up a committee to discuss and determine what the army buys in terms of quality,” he said while handing five Standards Codes to NAF to study for better understanding of the partnership.
The SON boss maintained that the new SON Act 2015 states that before anyone imports, they must have exhausted all the locally available ones and that the imported materials must have SON’s Conformity Assessment Programme, SONCAP.
In the case of locally produced for export, Aboloma said the products must bear Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme MANCAP logo.