The African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) on Monday, 28th May, 2018 has formally admitted Nigeria National Accreditation Service (NiNAS) as a full member. NiNAS has been an Associate member of the Cooperation since 1st May, 2017 but has now obtained full membership. This change of membership status is a welcome development as this will give NINAS stronger representation in the accreditation business in Africa and , by extension, in other parts of the world.
With this achievement, NiNAS is better positioned for its role as a National Accreditation body for Nigeria and other African countries.
The CEO of Nigeria National Accreditation Service, Celestine Okanya, lend his voice on the importance of quality food in our society. His thought and views on the subject was covered by Core TV on Tuesday, May 15th, 2018 at the NiNAS office in Abuja, Nigeria. In his words, “Quality is not negotiable and cannot be ignored if we must make make progress in our non oil international trade………………….”. Among other factors, he stressed the need for improving the standard of our packaged and processed foods in other for them to be acceptable and competitive internationally. The full broadcast can be watched in the video below:
9 June 2018 marks World Accreditation Day as a global initiative, jointly established by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), to raise awareness of the importance of accreditation.
This year’s theme focuses focuses on how accreditation delivers a safer world.
The expectation of safe workplaces, safe products, safe transport, safe food, in fact all aspects of our lives is universally shared. Statistics however show that the expectation is not being matched by the reality. Closing this gap is a vital consideration for government, regulators and businesses, aiming to keep people safer in their work, their domestic life, their journeys and all other parts of their lives.
As in previous years, the day will be celebrated across the world with the hosting of major national events, seminars, and press and media coverage, to provide the opportunity to explore how accreditation can help deliver a safer world and to support businesses, government and regulators to find standards, conformity assessment and accreditation tools to support them in this goal.
You can read more at http://ilac.org/news-and-events/world-accreditation-day/
Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency on Wednesday 11th April, 2018 visited NiNAS office in Abuja, Nigeria. The visit was part of a study tour embarked upon by the Gambia local content Development Committee of the Petroleum Exploration and Production License Agreement (PEPLA).
This study tour was scheduled for some selected agencies in Nigeria between Monday 9th and Thursday 12th April, 2018. The agencies covered during the visit include Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Nigeria National Accreditation Service (NiNAS), Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL) and LEKOIL/LEKGAS.
The overall objective of the mission is to avail the committee the opportunity to learn and share best practices and experiences in local content development and policies.
ILAC and IAF held its 2018 joint mid-term meeting in Frankfurt, Germany between 4th and 11th April, 2018. This meeting which holds between 4th and 11th of April, 2018 has in attendance representatives of accreditation bodies across the globe. Nigeria being one of the participating countries was represented by the staff of Nigeria National Accreditation Service (NiNAS) and the Nigeria Quality Infrastructure Project (NQIP) under the leadership of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). For more information go to: http://ilac.org/event/ilac-iaf-joint-mid-term-meetings-2/
The Director Generals / CEOs of Ghana National Accreditation Service, Nigeria National Accreditation Service and SOAC – Francophone Countries Accreditation body, UNIDO Chief Technical Adviser for West Africa Quality Infrastructure System Program with his team after first meeting of West Africa Accreditation Forum at Abidjan, Côte D Ivoire.
NiNAS participated in the Assessment of Laboratories for ISO/IEC 17025 Accreditation and interacted with the Lead Assessors from ENAO.
Laboratory assessments were scheduled in January to February 2018 to assess laboratories that applied to NiNAS for ISO17025 accreditation. NiNAS participated in the process for two laboratories in Lagos, Bato and SELFA laboratories from 20th to 22nd of February, 2018.
BATO and SELFA laboratories were successfully assessed against ISO/IEC 17025 standard and NiNAS requirements. Phase 4 training was conducted for five NiNAS trainee assessors and Assessment findings were shared with the laboratories. This brings the number of the first set of assessments done by NiNAS to eight.
The CEO of NiNAS, Celestine Okanya, presented a scientific paper on The Role of Accreditation in Improving Quality, Safety and Efficacy of Pharmaceutical Products at Faculty of Drug Production and Quality Assurance of West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists, Yaba, Lagos.
West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists is the apex institution for Pharmacists in ECOWAS region. It is the centre that produces the “Fellows” of the Profession. In preparation for graduation of these Fellows who are or will become the industry leaders, the college organizes seminars and conferences in emerging issues and areas of their practice. Accreditation is considered and emerging trend in the sub-region and the entire world.
Nigeria National Accreditation Service ( NiNAS) was therefore invited to make a presentation TITLED: THE ROLE OF ACCREDITATION IN IMPROVING QUALITY, SAFTEY AND EFFICACY OF PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS”
This meeting also provided great opportunity for NiNAS to not only initiate collaboration with the college and the industrial pharmacists, but also to market her services to the pharmaceutical industries.
Other papers where presented by several scholars – in different quality assurance related topics such an ISO standards, Good manufacturing Practice, Quality Assurance and Standard Operating Procedures. NiNAS’s paper provided the role of accreditation in improving quality, safety and efficacy of Pharmaceutical products.
This event provided a great publicity and stakeholder’s engagement opportunity for NiNAS especially in letting the public know that we have commenced operations and provision of accreditation services to the industries.
The Nigeria National Accreditation Service held its first ever joint BOT, BOD and AAC meeting on Saturday, 3rd February, 2018 at BON Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria. The 2-day event commenced on February 2nd with a joint meeting of the Board of Directors (BOD) and Accreditation Advisory Committee (AAC). This was followed on Saturday 3rd February with the Board of Trustee (BOT) members joining the meeting.
The joint meeting created an atmosphere where the three arms of NiNAS governance were able to meet and discuss crucial issues that will move the organisation forward.
The meeting also witnessed the presentation of the BOT members to the governance team, official inuaguration of the BOD members, inauguration of the AAC members. Election was conducted for the chairpersons of the Board of Directors and Accreditation Advisory Committee.
Prince (Sir) Degun Agboade, President and Chairman of Council for Nigeria Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), was elected chairman for the Board of Directors while Dr. (Pharm.) Okey Akpa, Chairman of pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Asociation of Nigeria (MAN), was elected as the Chairman of Accreditation Advisory Committee. Dr. Dahiru Adamu remains the chairman, Board of Trustees.
BOD and AAC members also had separate inaugural meetings.
The ECOWAS Commission organized a forum on Regional Quality Infrastructure, in Dakar, Senegal, from the 29th of January to the 1st of February 2018.
This Forum is part of the dynamic of the implementation of the Common Industrial Policy and the ECOWAS Quality Policy, both adopted by the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
It was organised within the framework of the West Africa Quality System Programme (WAQSP) funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
The objective of this Forum was to bring together the principal regional and international actors on quality on the main themes, in order to strengthen the promotion and sustainability of the regional quality infrastructure being set up. The following activities were carried out during the Forum:
Set up of the remaining structures of the ECOWAS Regional Quality Infrastructure Scheme, particularly the Community Council for Quality (CCQ) and the ECOWAS Quality Agency (ECOWAQ);
Organisation of the WAQSP fourth Enlarged Steering Committee meeting;
Promotion of the quality system (regulation and technical structures), set up in the region;
Mobilisation of technical and financial partners, for the financing of activities related to the promotion of quality in the region;
Mobilisation and sensitization of all concerned actors, particularly consumers and businesses, on the issues of quality culture.
