Determined to ensure standard in the automotive industry, the Federal Government has launched the Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme, SONCAP for automobile used vehicles.
Director General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, Dr Joseph Odumodu and chief executives of three accredited companies that would implement the programme signed an agreement at a ceremony witnessed by the Director General of the National Automotive Council, NAC, Engineer Aminu Jalal.
The companies are Quality Assurance Projects Limited; Medtech Scientific Limited, and Cotecna Destination Inspection Limited.
Speaking at the event which took place at the SON headquarters in Abuja, Odumodu noted that “out of the over 2, 000 parts that make up a typical car, government mandate covers only about 120 safety and environmental standards”.
This, he said calls for the need to institute a regime that would ensure the effectively enforcement of these standards and monitor their compliance.
Odumodu informed that “part of the expectation of automotive policy requires that we begin to aggressively monitor the importation of new vehicles into the country and create a regime which would ensure that they conform to the applicable Nigerian standard”.
He added that as part of the SONCAP regime, a separate pre-shipment verification of conformity to standard on used vehicles be implemented by the organisation, stressing that “this is being premised on the fact that the pre-shipment to conformity be done against NIS127 and NCP018”.
Odumodu explained that the government in its efforts to grow the automotive industry made it a key component of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), which is a programme, aimed at diversifing the nation’s economy and revenues through industry.
The SON boss added that the programme, designed by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment was also meant to increase manufacturing’s contribution to the gross domestic product, GDP from the present four percent to six per cent by 2015, and above 10 per cent by 2017.
Source : SunOnline