Firm Gets Accreditation Certification

The Engineering Automation Technology Limited (EATECH) made history during the week by becoming the first Nigerian firm to bag the International Organisation for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditations.

The company said the accreditation came after one year of painstaking and rigorous subjection of the company’s laboratory, personnel, and allied facilities to rigorous 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, recently, said attaining the accreditation would help the country save millions of dollars lost annually as capital flight in shipping critical and sensitive equipment in the aviation, oil and gas, and power sectors abroad for electrical, pressure, and temperature measurements.

Okon said, “Before now, there is no laboratory that calibrates aviation equipment in Nigeria, and you know how critical it is to get it 100 per cent right when handling equipment and measurements in aviation; there is usually no room for errors.
“For years, the bulk of these equipment calibrations were done abroad, but with this accreditation, we have provided the solution that will enable the aviation industry cut down on capital flight on equipment calibration done 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.

He urged regulatory establishments in the country to evolve policies that grows local content in the aviation and petroleum sector so that capital generated is retained in local banks to boost the economy.

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 10 years 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.