The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has extended its technical support service towards fighting the coronavirus pandemic to Ivy- Justin Innovations Limited, manufacturers of alcohol based hand sanitizers in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
A team of inspectors from the FCT Operations office led by Mrs. Ganiyat Oyapidan and accompanied by Mr. Sunday Igbabo conducted the inspection as part of SON’s quality assurance procedure to ensure that locally manufactured essential products required in containing the spread of the coronavirus conform to the requirements of relevant standards.
Receiving the SON Technical Team, Managing Director of Ivvyjustin Innovations, Dr. Mrs. Obire Ogonnaya stated that the company offers services in production of hygienic products, industrial cleaning, pest control and fumigation, waste management and supply of water purification plants.
According to her, the inclusion of hand sanitizers to its available range of cleaning products was in response to the breakout of the coronavirus pandemic in the belief that most ailments, epidemics and diseases can be wiped out by observing proper hygienic practices.
The Managing Director commended SON’s efforts in helping to curtail the spread of the coronavirus through prompt provision of relevant standards and other quality assurance procedures.
She stressed the company’s willingness to ensure that its products continually conform to the requirements of relevant standards which informed the submission of samples to SON through the Presidential COVID-19 Emergency Operation Centre in the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) for assessment.
According to her, many non-governmental organizations have commissioned the company to produce the sanitizers for their use and distribution to the public.
The SON inspection team went round the factory from raw materials storage, water purification, through the production section to the packaging and the finished product storage sections where the production personnel explained in details the process, in-process quality checks and the finished products’ inspection usually carried out.
On-the-spot test was conducted by the SON team, following which the company was advised to conduct quality check on every batch of production as a demonstration of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and quality consciousness, while also maintaining records of such checks for reference purposes.
Commenting on the outcome of the inspection exercise, the SON Team Leader, Mrs. Oyapidan commended the company’s management for its swift action in the production of hand sanitizers to help curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus to meet the increasing demand for the product in the market.
She confirmed that the samples received through the COVID-19 Emergency Operation Centre – FMITI for assessment conformed to the requirements of ARS 1470:2019 – Hand Sanitizers (alcohol based) – Specification and advised the company on the need to continually produce to requirements of the standard so as to give customers value for money and ensure that the product is fit for the intended purpose at all times.
