Lucy Ogalue/ Okeoghene Akubuike
The Federal Government has unveiled the Digital Standards Platform to improve access to Nigerian Industrial Standards (NIS), strengthen public procurement and boost industrial development in line with the Nigeria First Policy.
The platform was developed by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and Goringo Consult Limited.
It is expected to provide digital access to standards, certification services and compliance tools for businesses, manufacturers and public procuring entities.
Speaking at the unveiling in Abuja on Friday, the Minister of State for Industry, Sen. John Enoh, described the initiative as a major milestone in Nigeria’s quality infrastructure.
Enoh said the platform would make standards more accessible, improve industrial competitiveness and support the implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda through quality-driven public procurement.
“Today is not merely the unveiling of a technology solution; it is the opening of a new chapter in Nigeria’s quality journey.
“The Digital Standards Platform dismantles barriers. It places the full library of our national standards, compliance tools and certification services within reach of anyone with a connection and a commitment to quality,” he said.
According to him, integrating Nigerian Industrial Standards into the BPP’s e-Marketplace for Made-in-Nigeria goods and services will enable government institutions to procure verified, standards-compliant local products.
“Quality is what turns patronage into preference. When Nigerian products meet Nigerian standards consistently and verifiably, consumers will choose them because they should,” the minister said.
Earlier, the Director-General of SON, Dr Ifeanyi Okeke, said the platform marked a new era in Nigeria’s standards administration by digitising access to standards and conformity assessment services.
Okeke said the platform would remove barriers associated with distance, paperwork and lengthy processing time while providing verified access to certified Made-in-Nigeria products through the BPP’s e-Marketplace.
“If Nigeria must buy Nigerian first, then Nigerian products must be worthy of being bought first, and demonstrably so. Standards are how a nation keeps that promise to itself,” he said.
He said that the platform would reduce compliance costs for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), improve their competitiveness in domestic and export markets and be continuously upgraded to meet users’ expectations.
“The Platform belongs, not to SON and the Bureau of Public Procurement alone, but to every Nigerian who believes that quality is the shortest route to prosperity,” he said.
Also speaking, the Director-General of the BPP, Dr Adebowale Adedokun, described public procurement as a strategic tool for economic transformation, saying government spending must be guided by quality standards and national interest.
According to Adedokun, public procurement is far more than paperwork.
“It is the single most powerful instrument of economic policy in the hands of government.
“Every Naira we spend is a decision about the economy we want to build. When that spending is guided by standards, it becomes a force for quality.
“When it is guided by patriotism, it becomes a force for local industry, and when it is guided by both, it becomes a force for national transformation,” he said.
He said the integration of the platform into the BPP’s e-Marketplace would enable procuring entities, contractors, consultants and suppliers to identify, compare and procure standards-compliant local products with confidence.
He said the initiative would also improve transparency by reducing ambiguity and opportunities for manipulation in procurement processes through the use of verifiable standards.
The BPP director-general said the Nigerian Industrial Standards Attestation Certificate could be obtained through the platform.
He said that the certification had become a mandatory bid document and evaluation requirement for all Federal Government procurement involving goods, works and services with applicable standards.
He said the measure would provide an objective basis for verification, ensure fairness, and guarantee that only products and services meeting national standards were used in public contracts.
In his remarks, the Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Dr Jobson Ewalefoh, described the platform as one of the first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects delivered under the commission’s revised PPP Guidelines.
Ewalefoh said the project demonstrated the effectiveness of reforms introduced to simplify and streamline the development and implementation of PPP initiatives.
He commended Goringo Consult Limited, the concessionaire, for its professionalism and innovation in delivering the platform and urged all stakeholders to sustain collaboration to maximise its national impact.
“The platform will strengthen infrastructure delivery by ensuring that roads, hospitals, power projects and other public assets are built with goods, works and services that comply with verified Nigerian Industrial Standards,” he said.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Kadiri Abdulrahman