SON conducts quality assurance on garment firm
By Chris Ndibe
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has undertaken a quality assurance inspection of Cross River Garment Factory (CRGF), Calabar to ensure compliance with regulations to stop spread of COVID-19.
The factory, located at Atimbo, by Goodluck Jonathan By-pass, Calabar, is into mass production of Ankara barrier masks in furtherance of the “No Mask, No Movement” policy of the Cross River State government.
SON Director-General, Osita Aboloma in a statement on Monday in Abuja commended the company’s management for the initiative in response to the Federal Government’s call for face mask production locally to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
Represented by Mr Michael Ogbuji, SON, Cross River Coordinator while touring the production facility, Aboloma explained that the inspection was aimed at value addition from the raw materials, processes to the finished products of the face masks.
This, he said would ensure that they complied 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 boss also advised the company’s management to share necessary technical information regarding the production and quality control checks with SON and assured them of absolute confidentiality.
He then commended the state government for its initiative and advised the company’s management to keep and maintain records of all quality control checks carried out on the finished products.
Also,Mr Edet Joseph, Acting Managing Director of CRGF, described the factory’s product as double layer composite masks with inner liner and high tensile strength of the head harness as well as neat sewing finishes.
According to him, the Ankara material being used for the face masks is 100 per cent cotton and sourced from Abia State.
The Ag. MD stated that all precautionary safety measures were being observed in the mass production of the re-usable masks with capacity for 100,000 units per day, adding that it could be used for a maximum of four weeks.
Joseph stated that the company, which commenced operations in 2018, was producing largely for the Cross River State Ministry of Health, which distributed freely throughout the state.
Other issues discussed with the company’s management included the barrier filtration efficiency, breathing resistance, labelling requirements for identification and traceability in the market among others