Economies that seek to make the transition from a single product base often need to push for quick responses to close the inevitable gaps that exist in the structures upon which their trade systems were developed. Plans of action

are then set to rectify the market shortcomings and create the drive needed to enhance their economic abilities. Nigeria is a country renowned for its large-sized population and public administration overheads. Clear benefits can be got from the coordination of administrative changes together with a fast-paced improvement on the rate of skills formation among its working-age population.

The NQI Project enables national institutions and private business associations in Nigeria to produce sustainable solutions that speed up the industrial and economic development of profitable trade sectors. For value addition in existing production lines, it becomes necessary to work towards near-perfect information flows, harmony in the procedures for governance and commercial systems, and the sharing of technical expertise.

Since April 2015, the Project has caught the attention of key national institutions through the delivery of structured capacity building initiatives aimed towards their delivery of efficient quality infrastructure services. An overall monitoring plan measures the indicators of the project delivery so they remain relevant to stakeholders needs and up to date with technology advancements and the changing policy landscape in Nigeria.

This third issue of Quality Times showcases the impact of effective coordination to develop such national institutions as the Nigerian Metrology Institute, the National Accreditation Service and the national Office of Technical Regulations. A progressive outlook on technical regulations development is illustrated from a regional perspective and it showcases an important centre of industrial activity in Nigeria – Onitsha.

Our ongoing skills formation programmes also assist to introduce conformity assessment as a norm in Nigeria and more public institutions and private sector business groups have signed up for support from the NQI Project to create their own certification systems.

A new section keeps track of synergies with related EU-funded initiatives, and highlights the broader intervention to boost Nigeria’s economic competitiveness.

EDITORIAL NOTES

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission

I N T H I S I S S U E

EDITORIAL NOTES

NEWS AND FEATURES

GALLERY AND EVENTS

TOOLS AND RESOURCES

QUALITY TIMES AUGUST 2015VOLUME II (Issue 2)

THIS PROJECT IS IMPLEMENTED BY UNIDO

Integrating Quality through Coordination and Skills Formation

building trustfor tradeTHE NATIONAL QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT FOR NIGERIA. A COMPONENT OF THE NIGERIA COMPETITIVENESS SUPPORT PROGRAMME

THIS PROJECT IS FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION

SYNERGIES: WAQSP AND SNTSI

A QUARTERLY NEWSLET TER PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT - A PROJECT FUNDED BY EUROPEAN UNION’S 10TH EDF PROGRAMME FOR NIGERIA

T rade and measurement are intimately linked because goods and services of all kinds can only be validly offered in exchange for money when presented in defined quantities – kilo, metre, litre per second, hour, hertz and decibels,

which are some common units of measurement used in daily life. Less common units such as barrels, decibel-milliwatts, megajoule, poise, lux and litres per second are usually recorded in the details of formal business operations.

Every industry area in the global economy has to deal with measurements. The degree of accuracy in the measures used for trade directly affects the confidence of the buyer that the end result will be of good quality and reliable for the purpose stated. This is one reason why these measurement labels exist on every day

products – clothing and shoe sizes, container sizes, travel distances, fuel pump calculations, bolt specifications, cash bundles and gold carat sizes are just a few of the commercial uses of measurement.

The responsibility for weights and measures rests with the Federal Government as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – listed as an item in the Exclusive legislative list. The Department of Weights and Measures in the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) are the key institutions supported by UNIDO to drive this metrology development initiative. In 2013, the Nigerian Government required a model roadmap to develop and maintain national measurement standards for measurement quantities used for industry and trade in Nigeria.

N E W S A N D F E AT U R E S

Over 100 institutional stakeholders have engaged with the NQI Project at varying levels through various initiatives to instil the systems of quality infrastructure in Nigeria. This offers an excellent avenue to offer access to accurate information on the process flows for Quality Infrastructure. The need for coordination is especially pronounced to the deliver the goals for a national system for measurement standards, a national accreditation set-up, as well as for the supervision of the technical regulations systems in Nigeria

A Pound of Trust - Impor tance of Measuring Stuff

QUALITY TIMES 02 VOLUME II (Issue 2) - AUGUST 2015

Stakeholders at the site of the National Metrology Institute

On May 20, 2015, Nigeria joined nations around the world to celebrate the important role of light and optical technologies in today’s world – for the first time taking an active role in the World Metrology Day initiative themed ‘Measurements and Light’ this year.

The provisions for the plan to implement the development initiative for a NMI in Nigeria are outlined in the draft national policy on quality presented by the FMITI to the Federal Executive Council in April this year.

The UNIDO technical assistance comes in the form of ensuring that the needed skills are available for the set-up and operation of the National Metrology Institute. The NQI Project will work with a technical committee composed of the key institutions responsible for metrology in Nigeria. In addition to its skills formation programme for the metrology field, the NQI Project will assist to develop the business plan for the Metrology Institute. Local expertise will also be enhanced to help the Institute market its repair and maintenance shop to calibration labs and manufacturing facilities involved in the use of industrial equipment.

The NQI Project has facilitated a number of stakeholder training and knowledge development exercises including study tour programmes to the metrology facilities Mexico and Guatemala in June 2014. As a direct outcome, beneficiaries from the FMITI, SON and the Department of Weights and Measure were able to provide competent insight which informed the Government’s review and approval of a secure and conducive site the establishment of the first national metrology institute in Nigeria.

The approved 61, 685 sq m site in Emene, Enugu was assessed based on its general location and security, the space requirements for the institute, checks for vibration, electromagnetic interference, air quality, electrical supply and other environmental factors such as temperature and humidity. Testing on the soil and the geographical properties were also considered relevant and on May 12 2015, SON performed the ground-breaking for construction work to begin on the site.

A training programme has been designed for the public sector and private business calibration laboratories partnering with the NQI Project to prepare them for international accreditation. The staff of the Department of Weights and Measures have already completed a core Metrology Foundations course at the AFRIMETS Legal Metrology School in Tunisia as part of the initiative to develop the human capital potential to meet the huge personnel needs of the Institute and the metrology sector in Nigeria. This sector provides a promising avenue for employment for qualified scientists and technicians skilled in the science of calibration and measurements.

It is the expectation of the key partners that the proposed NMI will provide traceability to the S.I. Units for all the sectors of the national economy and the ECOWAS region and will be listed on the Calibration and Measurement Capability (CMC) chart of the BIPM – the global institution that oversees the application of weights and measures.

building trustfor tradeTHE NATIONAL QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT FOR NIGERIA

NEWS AND FEATURES - A POUND OF TRUST

QUALITY TIMES 03

Calibrating a multimeter using the Fluke 5500

VOLUME II (Issue 2) - AUGUST 2015

QUALITY TIMES 04

Accreditation Bodies exist in all the major economies of the world and follow the same procedures for verifying the competence of inspection, certification, calibration and testing organisations. Accreditation is the act of verifying

that the responsible organisations within an economy have the required competence and resources available to certify products, processes or services, and to test the conformity of products to standards.

Without much doubt, it costs a lot more to maintain the trade and industry mechanisms in a country by relying long-term on a foreign supply of accreditation services. Beyond the actual logistics expenses, additional demerits include the dearth of both knowledge transfer and economies of scale on a sub-regional level. For Nigeria, all three appear central to justify the changes being put in place by the Government to rectify existing gaps in its industrial sector.

The functions served by an Accreditation Body ensure that the local laboratories or certification agencies it accredits can be trusted, which would in turn verify that Nigerian-made products meet quality and performance standards.

The NQI Project has advanced the delivery of a national accreditation service to meet the verification needs and demands in the various industry sectors in Nigeria in an inclusive, albeit objective, manner. Initial priorities are focusing on preparing existing institutions to step into their new roles once the national accreditation service opened its doors to its diverse bunch of clients.

Several initiatives were completed through the NQI Project in June 2015 to support calibration laboratories, testing laboratories and certification agencies in Nigeria. The initial ‘assessment readiness project for calibration laboratories’ mapped seven calibration facilities in Port Harcourt and Lagos to assess how far the ISO 17025:2005 standard was applied in their operations. The team of International Calibration Experts from UNIDO sought to

understand were the Nigerian laboratories that support general trade and industry fields stood, in preparation for accreditation to the 17025 standard.

From their findings, knowledge gaps were identified in the facilities mapped for meeting the 17025 standard and this helped with the design of a training programme and Proficiency Testing Scheme to assist the laboratories to close those gaps. Some of the areas served by the laboratories include food & beverage, pharmaceuticals, water, soil and construction sectors.

Based on additional research by the NQI accreditation teams, two follow-up remedial initiatives had to be designed to boost the capacity of the calibration laboratories serving these sectors – an Awareness workshop, and a training on the workings of a Proficiency Testing scheme which were completed in May. As a result, the concept of a PT scheme establishment for Nigeria is underway as well as training on the 17025 standard designed for calibration laboratories.

With a lead time of less than 36 months, Nigeria’s Accreditation Body is getting set to commence its operations. UNIDO experts are already carrying out consultations on a Marketing Strategy to educate the key businesses in the analytical services sector on the lucrative impact of accreditation. For the initial accreditation programmes in Nigeria, calibration labs that perform calibrations in the testing sectors targeted will be eligible to participate in the upcoming rounds of training on 17025. Participating labs will be notified of the procedure to register.

It is expected that between Nigeria and the ECOWAS accreditation System, there will be areas of technical cooperation along the above lines, in cross-border service delivery and in the exchange of expertise such as assessors or general advisors – which provide a connection pathway to the ECOWAS quality infrastructure. This will be determined by a regional study to be completed in December 2015 and validated by the ECOWAS Ministries in charge of quality.

G etting S et for ECOWAS M arkets

STEPHEN CROSS AND MARCEL GBAGUIDI EXPLAIN THE REGIONAL SET-UP OF ACCREDITATION SYSTEMS

building trustfor tradeTHE NATIONAL QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT FOR NIGERIA

SYNERGIES - GETTING SET FOR ECOWAS MARKETS

In this area of trade development, possible connection pathways to the ECOWAS regional scheme for accreditation can be achieved through the UNIDO WAQS Programme initiative. For sector-wide opportunities in-country, trade support institutions in Nigeria will be equipped to meld systems of quality infrastructure into their operations through the GIZ-SNTSI intervention

VOLUME II (Issue 2) - AUGUST 2015

building trustfor tradeTHE NATIONAL QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT FOR NIGERIA

SYNERGIES - THE GIZ-SNTSI PROGRAMME FOR NIGERIA

QUALITY TIMES 05

To facilitate Nigerian trade and export, GIZ – the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GmbH), implements the Pro-poor Growth and Promotion of Employment in Nigeria (SEDIN) programme. The German

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) funds this initiative. As a complement to the SEDIN programme, GIZ also carries out a project for Strengthening Nigeria’s Trade Support Institutions (SNTSI) through the Nigeria Competitiveness Support Programme (NCSP) and with joint funding from the European Union and BMZ. One of the main objectives of the NCSP is to foster competitiveness in the Nigerian trade and investment sectors.

At the SEDIN programme, the target set is for growth and employment generation within the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) that operate in Nigeria. The programme plans to provide improved access to MSME finance in the first instance. A second thread seeks to enhance the enabling environment for MSME businesses. The final two threads will work to provide for the conducive facilitation of Nigeria’s trade policy and the development of value chains in specific sectors.

The SNTSI project works with a number of institutions to strengthen their capacities to function effectively as Trade Support Institutions. This aspect of the programme focuses on building up the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), the Nigerian Customs Service, the associations that make up the Organised Private Sector (OPS) and other key non-state actors, to facilitate trade by managing effectively the trade policy and customs reforms for Nigeria.

The FMITI Department of Trade has been selected for support under this initiative to build its capacity as a trade-sector regulator. The Department will receive support to secure Nigeria’s compliance with its obligations as a signatory to key international trade agreements including the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS).

This initiative will provide systematic support towards the capacity development needs of the Department so increase its understanding of the impacts of the SPS agreement on the SPS notification and oversight functions of the Ministry, as well as its parastatal regulatory agencies, laboratories, and the bodies responsible for certification, inspection and standardization in the country.

One area of complementarity between the SNTSI and UNIDO NQI initiative for Nigeria, is compliance to the WTO Agreement on SPS. This synergy will support Nigeria to create linkages with global trade, and also develop its systems for conformity assessment and quality infrastructure.

A collaboration between the two projects will help enhance the capacity within the FMITI and relevant agencies to understand how better to adapt to the requirements of the WTO SPS agreement. The ultimate goal is for greater competitiveness within Nigeria’s trade sector.

Alexander Werth is the Head of the Trade Policy and Facilitation Unit at GIZ SEDIN and also the SNTSI Project Coordinator

Bernard Tayoh is an Adviser on Trade Policy at GIZ SEDIN

The GIZ-SNTSI Pro gramme for N igeria

ALEXANDER WERTH AND BERNARD TAYOH PRESENT THE GIZ-SNTSI TRADE SUPPORT PROGRAMME AND ITS STRATEGY TO PROMOTE NIGERIAN EXPORT

A team of experts on UNIDO’s regional West African Quality System Programme has been assigned to a study that supports the Economic Community of West African States Commission (ECOWAS Commission) to define the legal and technical requirements within ECOWAS regulation Nr C/Reg.19/12/13 for its quality infrastructure.

It is expected that laboratories of the other West African countries will be welcome to participate in the Nigerian PT scheme as soon as it is established; and depending on the needs of the market, private or public sector companies can open laboratory branches for testing and/or calibration services in different ECOWAS Member States. Furthermore, Accreditation Bodies that operate within the sub-region will be able to sign Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) under the supervision of the ECOWAS Accreditation System where there are opportunities of collaboration in their respective accreditation scopes.

Stephen Cross is the UNIDO lead expert on Accreditation for the NQI Project. He sat at the helm of Canada’s accreditation service for over five years.

Marcel Gbaguidi is the UNIDO lead expert on Accreditation, Metrology and Conformity Assessment on the regional WAQSP Project. He was in charge of coordinating the technical aspects of the set-up of the UEMOA multi-economy Accreditation Body within a 5-year period.

VOLUME II (Issue 2) - AUGUST 2015

QUALITY TIMES 06 VOLUME III - AUGUST 2015

NEWS AND FEATURES - FEATURE 4: ADOPTING GOOD GOVERNANCE GUIDELINES, AUDIT OF GG PRACTICES

As the NQI Project supports the Nigerian Government to develop a quality infrastructure framework, even more effort is required to ensure that its nascent elements such as the national body for accreditation, the national institute for metrology and the conformity assessment entities can provide reliable service to their clients over an optimal period of time. Thematic programmes for good governance, consumer rights promotion and risk management are some of the capacity building initiatives selected to facilitate the responsiveness to Nigeria’s quality campaigns

Participants at an NQI training exercise

QUALITY TIMES 07

building trustfor tradeTHE NATIONAL QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT FOR NIGERIA

NEWS AND FEATURES - BUSINESS AS USUAL?

Business as Usual?

TABITHA BUBA AND EFEHI UBEBE TRACK THE EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS ETHICS IN NIGERIA

The close of the second stage of the NQI Good Governance thematic programme is almost near. The theme was designed to improve the way organisations in Nigeria operate and the stakeholder

responses offer a preview of how trade growth in Nigeria could be supported with a harmonised ethics-based system.

When the programme resumed in June 2013, its focus stayed on developing institutions in Nigeria. The second stage has been designed to provide a workable approach for NQI institutions to develop the internal competencies to apply the Good Governance principles as business norms, The split training design at this stage allowed the NQI Project to support a group of 17 trainees through a technical training to model the internal audit processes for supervising good governance in their institutions.

When the programme was first introduced in December 2014, NQI professionals were invited to attend the first-level training on Good Governance and Professional Practices for NQI institutions in Abuja to qualify for the next phase. On learning of its objectives, the management of 28 strategic institutions that perform quality infrastructure services (or employ personnel in this field) officially approved for a combined total of 60 of their personnel to attend the programme.

In collaboration with UNIDO experts, the group explored cultural aspects of Nigerian business practices that touched on integrity, objectivity, confidentiality, professional behaviour and the duty of care. Their collaborative input resulted in the publication of the UNIDO ‘Guideline on Good Governance and Professional Practices for Organisations and Personnel of the National Quality Infrastructure’ for Nigeria.

To comply with the Guidelines, each participating institution needed to create an internal mechanism to oversee the change management process with a dedicated unit within the NQI Project assigned to support the change process.

This comprised a five-member Good Governance implementation committee to test the Guidelines, one staff member appointed to audit the procedural application of the Guidelines and make recommendations for corrections, and a reporting process to monitor, evaluate and provide feedback on the institutional impact. 20 institutions have now adopted this governance model at varying levels and several have created internal charters officially committing to the principles of Good Governance.

Overall, the participants have brought a wealth of institutional experience from the public sector operations of education, consumer protection, SME development, export promotion, agriculture, public health regulation, analytical testing, standards, and legal metrology services.

Also well represented were the private business associations for manufacturing and commerce, SMEs and industrialists and also the professional associations for engineering, legal practice, medical practice, and quality management.

Tabitha Buba is an Expert on Monitoring and Evaluation working with the NQI Project

Participants at an NQI training exercise

VOLUME II (Issue 2) - AUGUST 2015

QUALITY TIMES 08

building trustfor tradeTHE NATIONAL QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT FOR NIGERIA

NEWS AND FEATURES - HAPPY CONSUMERS

Happy Consumers – Trade Promoters

In the month of June, the Consumer Protection Council kicked off a nationwide personnel development programme to support its vision to position the Nigerian consumer as king in the context of commercial relations.

Within Nigeria, the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) is the apex regulator assigned the role of protecting the interests of consumers, under a legislative Act – the Consumer Protection Council Act of 1992. This legal instrument reserves eleven specific regulatory functions to address consumer awareness, consumer education, enforcing compliance to trade standards, and measures for redress in cases of commercial liability. (Section 2 of the CPC Act contains the details of these provisions).

Based on the need to boost the organisational strength of CPC in this respect, the NQI Project is supporting a skills improvement programme for over 200 personnel of the CPC based in seven regional offices and it is billed to run over a 3-month period. For the first phase in June, the knowledge management sessions exposed the trainees to the application of the CPC Act in the field, techniques to promote and enforce consumer legislations and the adoption of ISO 9000, ISO 9001 and Quality Management Systems Standards in the organisation’s operations.

These sessions were delivered in Awka, Port Harcourt and Abuja to 124 CPC personnel.

Overall, the exercise aims to provide the Consumer Protection Council with the core expertise to adopt best practices to create regulations, and also to establish its own Business Training Unit on Quality Management Systems. The Business Training Unit will be run by CPC personnel who undergo the specialist training stream on QMS standards under this programme and they will service the compliance needs of businesses operating within the Nigerian commercial environment. The second and third phases will be delivered in the cities of Lagos, Oshogbo, Bauchi and Minna.

The skills improvement programme which ends in August, sets the stage for the next level of activities – a nationwide quality promotion campaign for consumer awareness and the set-up of the Business Training Unit of the Consumer Protection Council.

NUMBER OF PRIVATE SECTOR BUSINESS

ENTITIES TRAINED TOWARDS QMS

CERTIFICATION BETWEEN APRIL AND JUNE50

M argins to Trade: A S outh-East N igerian O utlo ok

‘It is all about developing Nigeria… streamline the regulations, raise the standards, let there be a one-stop as much as possible for potential businessmen. And then you have to create the environment also for foreign investment to come into the country.’ – HRM Igwe Alfred Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha 2015.

The five states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo make up the South-East geo-political area of Nigeria. The cities of Aba, Nnewi and Onitsha are well known for their significant contributions to the growth of commerce and

industry in the South-East and also the dominant spirit of enterprise. Public officials at the regional consultations on Technical Regulations in Onitsha

VOLUME II (Issue 2) - AUGUST 2015

QUALITY TIMES 09

building trustfor tradeTHE NATIONAL QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT FOR NIGERIA

NEWS AND FEATURES - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE OBI OF ONITSHA

Although Anambra State is recorded as the second most densely populated in Nigeria, it still enjoys a reputation of the lowest poverty rate in Nigeria (NBS 2015). The town of Onitsha occupies a strategic location for trade promotion. It covers about 50 square kilometres of land and lies to the East of the River Niger with the Niger Bridge providing a gateway to link South East and South West Nigeria. Historically, the city operated as a collecting and distribution centre and attracted all manner of commerce from as far as Sokoto and Maiduguri to the north, the surrounding cities of the Niger-Delta, and Cameroun to the east.

While Aba and Nnewi are predominantly recognised as the ‘manufacturing’ cities in Abia and Anambra States, Ebonyi and Enugu States also have a crucial role to play in the expansion of Nigerian trade and industry. Within the planned initiatives to facilitate cross-border trade, both States provide key links along the trade corridor connecting Nigeria from the cities of Enugu and Abakaliki up until the town of Bamenda in Cameroun.

In 2014, Anambra – together with Enugu and Imo States – recorded a total value of over Two Billion Naira as internally generated revenue directly assessed from companies doing business in the South East. (2014 Nigerian Bureau of Statistics Report on internally generated revenue at State level).

The industrial activity in the region ranges from automobile assembly and food and beverages, to fabrication of industrial and household metal products, finished leather consumer goods and clothing apparel. Towards the end of the first half of 2015, the NQI Project visited Onitsha to promote understanding of the need for better regulations to improve business capacities – under its ‘Technical Regulations Component’. Representatives of the Government of Anambra State also participated in the programme and listed industrialisation, infrastructure, trade and commerce among the pillars designated for economic development within the State.

The Obi of Onitsha, HRM Igwe Achebe is a Stanford-trained chemist, and the traditional monarch of Onitsha. In this role, he provides social leadership to the inhabitants of Onitsha and indeed most parts of the South East – especially given the nature of the typical traditional socio-political governance structures in the South East Nigeria.

The UNIDO team made a courtesy call on the Ime-Obi, and was received by the Obi of Onitsha, HRM Igwe Alfred Achebe.

Below is a short excerpt from the interview with the Obi of Onitsha on the outlook for industrial growth in the South East region.

Q. How do you view the state of quality infrastructure and the operation of trade regulations in the South East region?

A. The events of today show one the significance of the south-east area as far as business is concerned and also industrial activity. Technical standards are very important. From our perspective as business people and manufacturers we want a situation where goods manufactured in Nigeria and indeed the south-east region are accepted around the whole world. Whether you like it or not, goods are going to move across the border in one way or another because it is an open system. It is important to set the standards to be uniform as the world gets more interconnected as a global village.Secondly, our standards passed in tune with international standards should not be suffocating to our Nigerian manufacturers. And the suffocation comes from the various rules and regulations of the public agencies – where many of the rules conflict against one another. For any person who seeks to import or export from Nigeria, it becomes tiring to deal with all these agencies at the same time. In other countries, it is a more simplified system with one set of rules. Not twenty sets of rules.It is not only technical regulations that pose an obstacle. Power supply is a key issue in Onitsha, and at the State level the approvals to acquire land for industrial use through a Certificate of Occupancy is also a challenge. Many times, people set up factories outside the Nigerian borders targeted at Nigerian consumers – and producing cheaper.

Q. Going round Onitsha, we have seen the spate of industrial activity taking place in the city. Can you please tell us what you would like to see in terms of improvements in trade from manufacturers in South East Nigeria – especially towards international trade?

A. On improvements in trade, and when I say trade I also mean manufacturing. First of all, the enabling environment is very important. Both on the infrastructure side and the regulatory side which is where the NQI project is also very much involved. This is what trade is about – you send your best production out to sell at competitive prices, and you bring in at competitive prices also.So, it is important that regulations are standardised, and streamlined to avoid overlaps – but also to ensure that they are at a level that meets international standards. Overall, the idea is that there is an optimal situation – both regulatory, physical, financial, etc. to encourage our teeming population to go into business, into manufacturing and to bring out their ideas to compete with the rest of the world.The average Nigerian is very enterprising, but our environment must help him to achieve these aims.

Q. What recommendations would you like to share to tackle the challenges and improve the environment for Nigerian business?A. Streamline the regulations. Raise the standards. Let there be a one-stop as much as possible for potential businessmen. Then you have to create the environment also for foreign investment to come into the country. It is all about developing Nigeria.

VOLUME II (Issue 2) - AUGUST 2015

U N I D O T R A I N I N G P R O G R A M M E S

E V E N T S G A L L E R Y

ABUJA: Skills development programme for public institutions and private sector associations on the institutional adoption of Good Governance

Guidelines

ABUJA: Skills development programme on the Audit of Good Governance Practices in public

institutions and OPS associations

PORT HARCOURT: Quality Management Systems Skills development programme for the Organised

Private Sector Associations

PORT HARCOURT: Skills development programme for staff of the Consumer Protection

Council – Session I training

QUALITY TIMES 10 VOLUME II (Issue 2) - AUGUST 2015

QUALITY TIMES 11

building trustfor tradeTHE NATIONAL QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT FOR NIGERIA

EVENTS GALLERY

PA R T N E R S H I P S

S P E C I A L E V E N T S

KANO: Regional consultation on Technical Regulations

ABUJA: Consultation with MLSCN officials on marketing the services of the Nigerian National

Accreditation Organisation

ABUJA: Consultation with NEPC officials to assess the remedial impact of Quality Infrastructure

systems in selected value-chains

ONITSHA, ANAMBRA: HRM Igwe Alfred Achebe with members of the Traditional Council of Red Cap Chiefs during a UNIDO-NQ courtesy call at the

Ime-Obi

EMENE, ENUGU: Immediate past Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment , HE Mr. O. Aganga, Chairman House Committee on Industry (National Assembly) Mr. M.O. Ogoshi at the site of the

National Metrology Institute

LAGOS: UNIDO International Expert on Metrology with stakeholders at the 2015 World Metrology

Day celebration

VOLUME II (Issue 2) - AUGUST 2015

Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and InvestmentOld Secretariat, Area 1Garki-Abuja, Nigeria

info@fmti.gov.ngwww.fmti.gov.ng

Delegation of the European Union to Nigeria21st Crescent,Off Constitution AvenueCentral Business DistrictP.M.B. 280 Garki-Abuja, Nigeria

Tel: (+234) 9-4617800delegationnigeria@eeas.europa.euwww.delnga.ec.europa.eu

INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT ▪ Inauguration of the Metrology Technical Committee

▪ Consultations on the set-up of the national Office for Technical Regulations

▪ Personnel Engagement for the NiNAS

FIELD ASSIGNMENTS ▪ Quality Promotion Campaign for Consumer Awareness – South South Zone

CAPACITY BUILDING ▪ Skills Improvement Programme on Consumer Rights Regulation – Nationwide

▪ Metrology training

▪ QMS Certification Training

▪ Quality Infrastructure Competency Training for the Press Industry

CEREMONIES ▪ Second Meeting of the NQI Project Steering Committee – Abuja

For contact and enquiries:

Efehi Ubebee.ubebe@unido.orgPartnership and Visibility UnitNational Quality Infrastructure Projectwww.nqi-nigeria.org

To ols and Resources

» NQI Project Brochure

» Directory of Testing and Calibration Laboratories

» Laboratoy Mapping Report

» SME Guide

» National Quality Policy Green Paper

» Conformilty Assessment Benefits

» National Food Safety Policy

» Guideline on Good Governance for NQI Organisations

» Better Technical Regulations in Nigeria (A Compilation of Technical Papers)

» Technical Brief on Commercial Opportunities for Conformity Assessment Bodies in Nigeria

UNIDO Regional Office in NigeriaUN House, Plot 617/618Central Business DistrictAbuja, NigeriaTel.: (+234) 9 2205009office.nigeria@unido.org

Resources are available for download on the NQI website: www.nqi-nigeria.org

NQI Online Laboratory Mapping Tool: http://www.nqi-nigeria.org/labs

U P CO M I N G E V E N T SAu g u s t - S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 5