Nigerian Flight Deck Travel and Business Reportage
ENGINEERING Automation Technology Limited (EATECH), has been awarded the International Organisation for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation following series of evaluations to prove it’s compliance.
The firm made history at the weekend becoming the first Nigerian firm to be accredited, after one year of painstaking and rigorous subjection of the company’s laboratory, personel, and allied facilities to tests and audits to ensure they function and align with standards set by the Australian-based International Laboratories Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).
A statement, by the Nigerian National Accreditation Service (NiNAS) on its website lauded the management of EATECH for making the requisite investment to bag the accreditation, the first in the country, saying it would go a long way in boosting the quality of equipment calibrations in the country.
“The Management and staff of NiNAS congratulates Engineering Automation Technology Limited laboratory on the attainment of this enviable feat. This is a positive progress for the Nigerian economy and West African quality infrastructure,” NiNAS said.
Managing Director/CEO of EATECH, Mr. Emmanuel Okon at a press conference in Lagos, yesterday, said attaining the accreditation would help the country save millions of dollars lost annually as capital flight in shipping critical and sentive equipment in the aviation, oil and gas, and power sectors abroad for electrical, pressure, and temperature measurements.
Said Okon:”Before now, there is no laboratory that caliberates aviation equipment in Nigeria, but with this accreditation, we have provided the solution that will enable the aviation industry cut down on capital flight on equipment calibration abroad, and we have also created an opportunity for jobs and human capital development for Nigerians
“We took over one year to get this ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standard as the first laboratory globally accredited to carry out pressure, temperature, and low voltage calibrations of equipment in Nigeria because we felt the need to invest in growing local content in the aviation, oil and gas, power, marine, and manufacturing sectors. And we are proud with the responses received from multinational firms indicating interest and confidence to patronise us because results generated in Nigeria can now be recognized and accepted globally, “Okon added.
According to him, the company which was established as part of effort to boost local content in the oil and gas industry, has over the last 10years grown to own a fabrication yard in Eket, Akwa Ibom state, and a calibration laboratory in Port Harcourt which just got the ISO/IEC accreditation.
“We are so confident of improving international trade between Nigeria and other countries because test reports and certificates issued by our company can now be accepted anywhere without the need for further testing,” he said.
Okon commended staff of the company, and officials of the Nigerian National Accreditation Service for working assiduously to assist in closing all gaps and eventually getting the accreditation.
