THE Standard Organisation of Nigeria, SON, has said it foresees a significant drop in the rejection of the country’s non oil exports to the European Union any moment from now.
This optimism is hinged on the ongoing training of 70 staff of the agency over the next eight months by the EU, on requirements for exporting of local honey, cocoa, millet, rice, sorghum and gum arabic to the EU markets.
The EU is the main destination for agricultural goods from Nigeria but most of these commodities are rejected because of non-conformity to EU standards.
Speaking during a meeting to herald the commencement of the training, SON Director General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, disclosed that the project is being facilitated by lead experts, Dr. Geoffrey Visser from South Africa, and a Nigerian Dr. Yinka Jayeola, adding that “60-70 staff of the agency have been selected to undergo the training and in turn, they would train exporters in the key sectors.”
Dr. Odumodu commended the EU for playing a major role in ensuring that the quality infrastructure Nigeria needs to access international market is in place.
He noted, “Today, we are the next buyer within the international community, buying 80 percent of what we are consuming and we sell less than 20 percent of what we have the capacity. And most of what we sell, we didn’t add value to them. That is why it is gratifying to see that Federal Government’s budget from 2016 is looking at diversifying our economy.
“One thing I would like to say is that if we want to drive our economy, then we must have created the right quality infrastructure to support exporting our products to international market. That is why the SON has been in the forefront of leading the campaign for a robust quality infrastructure in Nigeria.
NAN
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