By Felix Khanoba
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) says it has stormed a face mask-producing factory in Calabar to ascertain the quality of its products.
The quality assurance inspection to Cross River Garment Factory (CRGF), the Organisation said, was aimed at boosting the war against the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in Nigeria.
A statement made available to The AUTHORITY in Abuja at the weekend by Bola Fashina, spokesman of SON, said the factory is into production of ‘Ankara barrier masks’ in furtherance of the “No Masks, No Movement” policy of the Cross River State Government.
Welcoming the SON inspection team led by the Cross River State Coordinator, Michael Ogbuji, Acting Managing Director of CRGF, Mr Edet Joseph, described the factory’s product as double layer composite masks with inner liner.
He said the products which have high tensile strength of the head harness as well as neat sewing finishes are made up of 100 percent cotton sourced from neighbouring Abia State.
Speaking further, the Ag. MD stated that all precautionary safety measures were being observed in the mass production of the masks with capacity for 100,000 units per day.
Responding after the tour of the production facility, Mr. Michael Ogbuji on behalf of the SON Director General, Osita Aboloma, commended the company’s management for the initiative in response to the Federal Government’s call for sustainable production in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He explained that the inspection was aimed at adding value from the raw materials, processes to the finished products of the barrier masks to ensure that they comply with the requirements of AFNOR SPEC S76‐001: 2020, one of the Standards provided by SON to meet Nigeria’s need during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SON Coordinator admonished the company’s Management to share necessary technical information regarding the production and quality control checks with SON and assured them of absolute confidentiality.
