Salim stressed the significance of SON's long-running capacity-building programmes for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in this statement during a SON training for MSMEs and MANCAP-certified goods display in Lagos (MSMEs).
He clarified that the certification procedures and discounts offered to micro, small, and medium-sized companies (MSMEs) were implemented to ensure that the products and services offered met industry standards and could compete successfully with products worldwide.
Salim was represented during the three-day exhibition by Dr Richard Adewunmi, SON's Director of Marketing, which was one of the activities honouring SON's 50th anniversary.
He asserted that SON further provided a trustworthy environment for evaluating locally produced goods to prevent product rejection on global marketplaces.
“This we are doing by equipping our engineering laboratories, the National Metrology Institute in Enugu, the leather and textile laboratories, foods, chemical and electrical laboratories in Ogba Lagos,” Farouk stated.
Over 120 companies that had passed SON’s accreditation standards were present at the first show.
To speed up service delivery to industries and MSMEs, Salim said the agency was establishing new regional offices, renovating old office buildings, and working closely with state governments to provide lands for the construction of offices and laboratories.
“We recently commissioned the Kano regional training facility to provide training services for our stakeholders in the North-West and would be commissioning in North-East regional office complex in Bauchi State in a few days,” he said.
Salim thanked everyone who has ever worked for SON, both past and present, for their contributions to Nigeria. He explained how the organisation came to be through a look back at its legal origins in the Standards Organisation of Nigeria cap 412 of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Act No. 56 of December 1971.