ABUJA, 31 August 2017 – The Nigeria National Accreditation Service (NiNAS) has been officially presented with the Directory of Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs). The directory is a collation of the internationally accredited Conformity Assessment Bodies across the West African region. The formal presentation took place on 22 August 2017 in Abuja during the opening ceremony of the Extended Steering Committee of the West Africa Quality System Programme (WAQSP), with delegates from across the ECOWAS region and Mauritania.
The directory of CABs is specific objective 3 of the WAQSP which aims to provide private and public sectors with access to a network of accredited and competitive conformity assessment services provided in the West African region. The document, with the full title, ‘Directory of Accredited Conformity Assessment Bodies in West Africa’, is a comprehensive list of accredited laboratories in the ECOWAS region, as well as the international accrediting institutions.
During the opening session, the Head of Co-operation of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria & ECOWAS, Mr. Kurt Cornelius, assured the delegates of the EU’s “commitment to trade and quality in West Africa.” ECOWAS Commissioner for Industry and Private Sector Promotion, Mr. Kalilou Traore, stated that “Quality Infrastructure is an indispensable tool to support the [region’s] economy.”
The opening remarks were followed by a review of the directory of CABS, prepared by UNIDO through the WAQSP. Nigerian CABs listed therein are composed of three (3) medical laboratories accredited in ISO 15189 and eight (8) laboratories accredited in ISO IEC 17025. The eleven (11) Nigerian laboratories span both private and public sectors.
The Chief Executive Officer of NiNAS, Mr. Celestine Okanya, received the directory on behalf of the Accreditation Service. In his goodwill message, Mr. Okanya called the directory “a big marketing tool,” saying that the document has helped to identify the market of the future within the ECOWAS and Mauritania.
The Directory of Accredited Conformity Assessment Bodies in West Africa will be published regularly and will also be available online, updated with newly accredited conformity bodies.
Nigerian National Accreditation Service (NiNAS) was established as a component of the National Quality Infrastructure Project for Nigeria (NQIP), which is funded by the EU and implemented by UNIDO.
For more information:
NiNAS website: ninas.ng; and NQIP website: nqi-nigeria.org