By Abba -Eku Onyeka
Abuja
The Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), Graham Russell has lauded the Nigerian approach to implementing the National Quality Policy (NQP), describing it as novel. Mr. Russell made the assertion during the OPSS International Conference 2026, held in London between January 27 and 28th, 2026 with the theme “Regulation for Growth – Product Regulation in a Digital Age.”
According to him, the Nigerian governance structure which has an inter-ministerial body domiciled in the Presidency, responsible for coordinating the implementation would be an interesting case study for other countries concerned with strengthening their quality infrastructure (QI) pillars through the implementation of a quality policy.
He was responding to a presentation on “Innovation and Nigeria’s National Quality Policy” made by the Chairman of the National Quality Council, Osita Aboloma at the session on “Innovation, Regulatory Delivery and Data Handling”
Mr. Aboloma alluded to Nigeria being one of the few Nations with a distinct governance structure for the implementation of its approved NQP, stressing that the policy provides for private sector participation in the quality infrastructure value chain with regards to product inspection and conformity assessment that were hitherto dominated by government institutions and agencies.
He disclosed that working in partnership with the British Standards Institution under the Standards Partnership programme, Nigeria has adopted a multi-faceted but prioritized series of interventions to address QI implementation issues including:
The sensitization of the role of the policy in making QI more efficient and focused within Government and key stakeholders, especially in the private sector;
The completion of a NQP Implementation Strategy Matrix based on key sectors identified by the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), namely: Cocoa, Cashew, Leather and its derivates as well as Tea as pilot projects
Development and implementation of a NQP communications strategy as part of launching and promoting the role of the NQP, especially within the private sector
These according to the NQC Chief Executive, have provided opportunity for successful engagements and interactions with the government regulatory fraternity as well as the organized private sector groups, including small and medium scale enterprises.
Aboloma stated that one of the most significant deliverables in the NQP implementation in Nigeria so far was the Nigerian National Accreditation System (NiNAS)’s recent achievement of Mutual Recognition Arrangement of the African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) as well as the multilateral arrangement of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF).
The achievement according to him has provided Nigeria with a local equivalent of an international trade instrument for trust and integrity in the form of accreditation that is recognized globally, with great prospects for foreign exchange savings and job creation in the quality infrastructure value chain.
The NQC according to him, is in the process of developing a National Technical Regulatory Framework (NATReF) using the approved African Technical Regulatory Framework (ACTReF) as reference material. “When fully operational, the NATReF is expected to significantly improve Nigeria’s technical regulatory space as well as enhance our data handling using digital solutions” he said.
Aboloma stated that these would culminate into Nigeria’s pioneering role in implementing the mutual recognition agreement under the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA), an instrument to promote equivalence using conformity assessment as a vehicle across the continent.
