NEPC Kickstarts Certification Training For Manufacturers, Exporters
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council has commenced training on international certification for members of the Organised Private Sector in line with its Go Global, Go for Certification initiative.
The council stated that this was aimed at enhancing global market access for Nigerian exportable products.
In an effort to ensure the success of the initiative, the council said it had engaged a reputable Indian-based certification expert, TopCertifier, to provide certification awareness training to manufacturers and exporters.
“The Indian-based company guides companies and organisations on certification like the International Organisation for Standardisation, Capability Maturity Model Integration, Conformité Européene and Food Safety Management Systems and other international certifications.
“They have successfully executed over 3,000 projects across 20 countries,” the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, NEPC, Mr OlusegunAwolowo, said while speaking during an interactive session on non-mandatory certification with the OPS in Lagos on Thursday.
Awolowo, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Product Development Department, NEPC, Mr Samuel Oyeyipo, added that TopCertifier handled end-to-end turnkey projects including advising about what certification would give maximum return on investments, which certification body to choose gap analysis, documentation, training, internal and external audits.
He said, “The council using TopCertifier as a resource faculty has conducted two sessions for selected companies in the country.
“In recognition of the relevance of global certification, the council decided to organise this session to enable the OPS and TopCertifier interface.”
Awolowo noted that penetrating the international market for processed and value-added products required additional voluntary certification to enable the product access competitive overseas markets.
He said, “Non-mandatory certifications like ISO, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, Good Manufacturing Practice, CE and others are global certifications trusted by consumers and end-users of products and services and are attained based on the reputation of the certifying bodies.
“Certification of a product or of a process ensures high level of compliance to quality standards and provides a measure of trust and confidence in the product, thus making it easy to access both domestic and export markets.”
