The Federal Government has unveiled a Digital Standards Platform aimed at transforming Nigeria’s quality infrastructure, improving access to industrial standards, strengthening public procurement and boosting the competitiveness of Made-in-Nigeria products.
The platform, jointly developed by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, the Bureau of Public Procurement and private technology firm, Goringo Consult Limited, is expected to digitise access to Nigerian Industrial Standards, certification services and compliance tools while making quality verification easier for manufacturers, businesses, procurement officers and consumers.
The initiative also introduces a major procurement reform, as the Nigerian Industrial Standards Attestation Certificate, obtainable through the platform, has now become a mandatory bid document for all Federal Government procurement involving goods, works and services where Nigerian Industrial Standards apply.
Speaking at the official launch on Friday in Abuja, the Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh, described the initiative as a landmark reform that would deepen industrialisation, improve the ease of doing business and strengthen the implementation of President Bola Tinubu’s Nigeria First Policy.
Enoh said the platform represented far more than the introduction of another digital application, describing it as a major step towards repositioning Nigeria as a globally competitive manufacturing economy.
He said, “Today is not merely the unveiling of a technology solution; it is the opening of a new chapter in Nigeria’s quality journey, a chapter in which standards move from the shelf to the screen, and from the screen into the daily life of every Nigerian enterprise.
“There is an enduring truth that guides nations on the path of industrial greatness: no economy rises above the quality of what it produces. Standards are the silent architecture of prosperity.
“They are invisible when they work and painfully visible when they are absent. What we launch today makes that architecture accessible to all, the multinational in Lagos, the fabricator in Nnewi, the leather worker in Kano and the agro-processor in Benue.”
The minister noted that poor access to standards had long created unnecessary barriers for businesses, particularly Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
According to him, “For too long, access to Nigerian Industrial Standards, conformity assessment services and compliance information required time, travel and paperwork that our entrepreneurs, particularly our micro, small and medium enterprises, could ill afford.
“The Digital Standards Platform dismantles those barriers. It places the full library of our national standards, compliance tools and certification services within reach of anyone with a connection and a commitment to quality. In doing so, it converts standardisation from a bureaucratic hurdle into a business advantage.”
Enoh said the platform aligned directly with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the Nigeria First Policy, adding that local products would only enjoy patronage if consumers had confidence in their quality.
He said, “Quality is what turns patronage into preference. When Nigerian products meet Nigerian standards consistently and verifiably, consumers will choose them not because they must, but because they should.
“The Digital Standards Platform gives our local producers the tools to earn that preference and gives government procuring entities the means to verify it. Its integration with the public procurement ecosystem will ensure that every naira of public expenditure purchases not just goods, works and services, but quality, durability and value for money.”
The minister also linked the platform to broader efforts to improve the ease of doing business, saying digital reforms remove bottlenecks that discourage investment.
“The ease of doing business is not an abstraction; it is the sum of a thousand small frictions removed. Every form that no longer needs to be filed in person, every standard that no longer needs to be purchased across a counter, every certificate that can be verified at the click of a button, these are the quiet reforms that compound into competitiveness,” he stated.
Enoh urged regulators and private sector operators to fully embrace the platform, stressing that technology would only achieve its objectives through effective adoption and collaboration.
The Director-General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Ifeanyi Okeke, described the initiative as the beginning of a new era in Nigeria’s quality assurance system, saying businesses would no longer be burdened by physical processes before accessing standards.
He said the platform would serve as a single digital gateway to Nigeria’s quality infrastructure by providing access to standards, certification services, certified manufacturers and verified products.
Okeke said, “From today, Nigerian Industrial Standards, compliance tools, conformity assessment services and standards-related resources are available digitally, searchable, accessible and verifiable, without the barriers of distance, queues or paperwork. The Digital Standards Platform has been designed as a single digital gateway to the national quality infrastructure.”
He added that Nigerians would now be able to verify certified products before making purchases, while businesses could access internationally recognised standards at significantly lower costs.
According to him, “Another major benefit of the Digital Standards Platform is that it provides Nigerians with affordable access to internationally recognised standards. Leveraging SON’s subscriptions and copyright licensing arrangements with international standards organisations, the Platform enables users to purchase selected adopted international standards at up to 35 per cent below the original acquisition cost.”
The SON boss explained that the platform would also improve consumer confidence by making it easier to identify genuine manufacturers and eliminate counterfeit products from the market.
He said, “For the first time, Nigerians can conveniently verify the certification status of products before making purchasing decisions, identify genuine SON-certified manufacturers and obtain reliable information from a single trusted platform.
“This will promote informed patronage of quality-assured products, strengthen consumer confidence, improve market transparency, support due diligence during procurement and contribute significantly to the elimination of counterfeit, unsafe and substandard products from the Nigerian marketplace.”
Okeke stressed that the platform would play a critical role in implementing the Nigeria First Policy.
“If Nigeria must buy Nigerian first, then Nigerian products must be worthy of being bought first and demonstrably so. Standards are how a nation keeps that promise to itself. By lowering the cost and complexity of compliance, the Platform will help our micro, small and medium enterprises formalise, certify and compete. A standard that is easy to access is a standard that is easy to meet, and a product that meets our standards at home is a product ready for the continental and global marketplace,” he added.
Also speaking, the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Adebowale Adedokun, said the platform would fundamentally change how government purchases goods and services by embedding quality standards into procurement processes.
He described public procurement as one of the government’s strongest economic policy instruments.
According to him, “Public procurement is far more than paperwork. It is the single most powerful instrument of economic policy in the hands of government. Every naira we spend is a decision about the economy we want to build. When that spending is guided by standards, it becomes a force for quality. When it is guided by patriotism, it becomes a force for local industry. And when it is guided by both, it becomes a force for national transformation.”
Adedokun disclosed that Nigerian Industrial Standards would soon be fully integrated into the Bureau’s e-Marketplace, enabling ministries, departments and agencies to identify and procure verified local products with confidence.
He said, “In the coming months, Nigerian Industrial Standards will be fully integrated into the Bureau’s e-Marketplace for Made-in-Nigeria goods and services. Once that happens, procuring entities, contractors, consultants and suppliers will be able to identify, compare, benchmark prices and procure verified, standards-compliant local products and services with confidence.”
He further announced that the Nigerian Industrial Standards Attestation Certificate had become compulsory for federal procurement.
“With this launch, the NIS Attestation Certificate obtained via the Digital Standards Platform becomes a mandatory bid document and evaluation requirement for all Federal Government procurement involving goods, works and services with applicable Nigerian Industrial Standards. This gives us an objective basis for verification, ensures fairness and guarantees that only products and services that meet our national standards enter public contracts and eventually public space,” he said.
On his part, the Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Jobson Ewalefoh, described the project as one of the first Public-Private Partnership projects delivered under the commission’s revised PPP guidelines.
He said the platform demonstrated the success of reforms introduced to simplify infrastructure partnerships and commended Goringo Consult Limited for delivering the project.
Nigeria has long struggled with the proliferation of substandard products, weak compliance with industrial standards and limited access to certification services, particularly among Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
These challenges have reduced the competitiveness of local manufacturers, increased production costs and undermined consumer confidence.
The launch of the Digital Standards Platform forms part of the Federal Government’s broader strategy to strengthen the Nigeria First Policy launched in 2025, improve public procurement, promote local manufacturing and ensure that government spending supports quality, standards-compliant Nigerian products.
The integration of the platform with the Bureau of Public Procurement’s e-Marketplace is also expected to improve transparency, reduce procurement disputes and make it easier for manufacturers to compete for public sector contracts.
