The Director General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Joseph Odumodu, MFR has said that the time has come for Nigeria to experience the application of standards. He made this statement at in his remarks at the ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility Nigeria Adoption Process in Abuja. Whilst giving the Welcome Address at the ISO/SON International workshop for the ISO 26000 Guidance Standard on Social Responsibility, Odumodu hinted that the guide may soon become an enforceable standard in Nigeria.
This event marked the commencement of the adoption process of the international standard on Social Responsibility, ISO 26000 in Nigeria after the successful completion of the first phase where corporate organisations were invited to express interest as technical partners. The International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) through her national member body; the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) organised a two-day workshop to kick start the adoption process facilitated by Lead Expert, Martin Neureiter, CEO, The CSR Company, Austria.
Participants were drawn from corporate organisations who are participating in the exercise as Technical Partners as well as other government agencies and parastatals. The workshop marks the first of three technical meetings scheduled to take place between July and December 2012 before the guide can be adopted for use in Nigeria.
The adoption process is sponsored by Etisalat Nigeria and ThistlePraxis Consulting are Knowledge Partners to the process.
When adopted, Nigeria will join many other African countries such as Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa, Senegal, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ghana who have adopted the standard.
ISO 26000 is an International Standard (by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) elaborated to guide organisations on Social Responsibility. It is a consensus guidance document that provides support or a reference for all kinds of organisations in both private and public sectors both in developed and developing countries, as well as those who may be referred to as ‘being in transition’.
In July 2010, at the 9th Plenary meeting of the ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (ISO/WG/SR) held in Copenhagen, 450 participating experts and 210 observers from 99 ISO member countries which included Nigeria and 42 liaison organisations deliberated and ratified the Final draft standard. Six main stakeholder groups were represented: industry; government; labour; consumers: nongovernmental organizations; service, support, research and others, as well as a geographical and gender-based balance of participants.
For more information and enquiries on the process, a blog: http://www.iso26000-nigeria.blogspot.com has been created to properly communicate the process for local and foreign observers. Interested individuals are also encouraged to visit for comments, suggestions and input, accordingly.
CONTACT: iso26000@thistlepraxisconsulting.com, +23412131776, +23412131404, +2348136611906, +2348037148070.
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