SON Undertakes Quality Assurance Inspections in Abia, Rivers

Chris Uba

In continuation of its technical support to local manufacturers in the production of essential materials to fight the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria, the Standards Organisation of (SON) has undertaken quality assurance inspection of mass production of face masks in Abia and Rivers states.

The Abia State office of SON undertook a quality assurance inspection of Logistics De Luke Limited in Aba, Abia State, where mass production of face mask was ongoing.

The SON inspection team was led by the Abia State Office Coordinator, Oluyomi Lad-Alabi, accompanied by Ben Elesho, Atowa Chidiebere and Okecwukwu Okaugo.

Receiving the SON team, Director General, Abia State Quality Management Agency, Sam Hart, on behalf of the state government described the inspection as timely.

According to him, the company had just received an order through the General Theophilus Danjuma Foundation to supply 200, 000 units of the barrier masks to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the north eastern Nigeria.

He expressed the appreciation of the Abia State government to SON for its past collaboration in the area of quality assurance support to micro, small and medium scale enterprises in the state.

The General Manager of the Company, Chijioke Nwagwugwu explained that the company was mainly producing the face masks for the state government to curb the community transmission of the virus.

Responding, Lad-Alabi commended the efforts of the company and the Abia state government in curbing community transmission of the virus in the state in particular and the country in general.

He explained that the SON inspection was to complement the efforts of the state government through value addition and to ensure that the barrier masks are produced to the requirements of the AFNOR SPEC S76-001: 2020 and thus achieve the protective measures that it was intended for.

The SON inspection team explained the standards in detail while being conducted round the company production processes. The interactive session generated questions and answers on various aspects of the standard and the production process, while the SON team duly made clarifications.

Copies of the Standard for making and use of Barrier Masks were given to the company at no cost.

In a related development, a team of SON inspectors from Rivers/Bayelsa office led by the State Coordinator, Ayuba Samuel Ushe, recently embarked on a maiden inspection tour of Nigeria Airforce Investment Limited (NAFIL) Tailoring workshop located inside the NAF Base Port Harcourt.

The Managing Director of NAFIL, Air Commodore Clavartrinitas Uchechi Nwagwu, who disclosed that the centre was established to produce coveralls uniform for the Air Force personnel as well as personal protective equipment (PPE) coveralls for frontline health workers, received the SON team.