FG seeks support for review of weights, measurement Act

The Federal Government has engaged with major stakeholders in trade and industry sector in the northwest geopolitical zone to support its effort to review the existing Weights and Measurement Act and its subsidiary legislations to meet up with global best practices.

The review of the law, the government added, will bring about the improvement of the quality of products and services which are manufactured or provided in Nigeria.

Addressing the stakeholders in Kano on Tuesday, Mrs Comfort Emenbu, Director, Weights and Measures Department in the federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, said the main purpose of the engagement is to provide laws and regulations that will upgrade weights and measures services or the legal metrology practices from global best practices as well as guarantee the quality of Made-in-Nigeria products.

Emembu, who was represented by Auwalu Uba, North-West Zonal Coordinator of the Department, added that the current global trends in weights and measures administration necessitated that certain aspects of the existing Act be reviewed to accommodate global best practices in legal metrology.

According to her, the Act is the legislation that confers power on inspectors of the Weights and Measures department to ensure that measurements of trade are accurate, fair, transparent, uniform and legal.

Earlier, the Assistant Director, Training, Legal Metrology, Weights and Measures Department, Mr Ogheneruemu Okerhe, said the ministry was engaging stakeholders on the fifth and eighth schedules of the Act, with many sectoral bodies within the country.

He listed five main areas of concern of legal metrology to include units of measurement, weighing and measuring instruments, measurement processes, the person carrying out the measuring process and the net content on pre-packaged goods.

Stakeholders who contributed at the meeting, expressed hopes that the standard weight and measures would ensure that people have value for their money.