Arising from the enormous task in eradicating substandard products from the country as well as building the economy through upscale standardization and quality assurance, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) organized a management retreat to put up goals for a positive outcome.
The retreat themed, “SON Growing an Efficient and Effective Public Organisation”, was aimed at repositioning SON as a role model in safeguarding Nigerians from the menace of substandard products.
The Director-General and Chief Executive, Mallam Farouk Salim, said that the aim of the retreat was not just to learn and share ideas, but to ensure that the Organisation achieved its full mandate of standardizing all aspects of life as expected.
Mallam Salim called on all present to come up with ideas and solutions that will galvanize the Organisation and bring it to the fore with a view to addressing challenges that inhibit it from discharging its mandates of primarily enforcing standards for the benefit of Nigerians and the economy.
He therefore charged participants to think out of the box and get SON vamped up for greater responsibilities to be felt throughout the country in growing industries and the economy through strict application of Standardizations and Quality Assurances parameters.
Presenting a keynote address titled “Re-Positioning & Transforming Public Sector Agencies”, Dr. Peterside Dakuku, a former Director General of Nigerian Maritime and Administration Safety Agency (NIMASA) said certain key inputs have to be considered such as risk-based regulative study or pattern and efficient manpower levels, for the Organisation to be effective.
Other areas he acknowledged were professionalism, training or down the line mentorship by the management staff to the junior level staff for functionality and effectiveness and constant communication that must be holistic in nature.
The 5-Days event which took place in Calabar, Cross Rivers State dwelt on fostering better communications across Directorates, developing key metrics for measurement and evaluating performance and monitoring effectiveness, develop functional systems and mechanisms for improving efficiency of activities and to promote team bonding amongst others.
