NACCIMA urges quality awards to boost Nigerian products, services

By Chioma Obinna

The first Deputy National President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA, Iyalode Alaba Lawson, has said that enhancing the competitiveness of Nigeria’s products and services in the world market could help the country come out of the present economic recession.

Making this assertion at the opening ceremony of a training programme of Assessors for the Nigeria National Quality Awards, Lawson said  the ongoing training was in line with the National Quality Infrastructure Project for Nigeria (NQIP), she affirmed affirming  that Nigeria is  toeing the same line with the incoming national quality awards.

She said if Nigeria must create the desired awareness on quality and standards to build confidence on Nigeria’s goods, every detail must be considered and taken with utmost importance.

The Lead Technical Adviser, UNIDO National Quality Infrastructure Project, Dr. Shaukat Hussain, said the objective behind the training was to train them on assessment techniques so that they can pass on the techniques to the various organisations under them.

Participants were drawn from personnel of accredited testing and certification bodies that have excelled in the first stage of the assessment.

These assessors are therefore expected to pass down the knowledge acquired to the various manufacturers and service providers which they accredited and certified with the aim of entrenching quality culture throughout the country.

Last year  150 people participated, out of which  50 were shortlisted to undergo the assessors training comprising 25 in Abuja and 25 in Lagos.

“This quality awards are very helpful in boosting the economy of a country, in 1951, Japan was in recession and boosted their economy, in 1988, America and EU started this quality awards and they also boosted their economy, China also used the same method. So we thought it is the best time for Nigeria to start this quality award through EU funded project.

“We are hopeful that this quality award will boost the economy of this country because there are many criteria and if they adopt them, surely there will be a boost in the economy”, Hussain explained.

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