By Olanrewaju Adesanya
Laboratory analysts in Nigeria have urged the Federal Government to remove the bottlenecks in their accessibility to credit facilities from the Bank of Industry, to ease functional analytical activities and ensure a safe and serene environment.
Dr Femi Oyediran the President of Society of Testing Laboratory Analysts of Nigeria (SOTLAN) gave the charge,while delivering his address at the three days 2019 Conference of Analysts, held at Ostra Hotel Conference Hall.
Femi said,”Analysts are scientists,they don’t really have money especially in this country,that is why they are not able to pay and do some things that is expected of them because of paucity of funds.
“The government should really empower the analyst because if you look at this part of the world, we are not really giving them the support that they need to be able to work.
“When they even want to buy equipments they even buy without putting into consideration the end users,they are the analyst and this people should be put into consideration when you are buying.
“Secondly for instance when you go to Bank of Industry the analysts are exempted,they are not part of the people given facility credits and the equipments that we buy and use in laboratories are quite expensive, that they need such facilities to be able to move forward.
“They should support analyst by given loans or credit facilities,even in other climes they give them relief packages that would be able to work through when they bring in chemicals ,equipment, at a reduced rate.
“By so doing they would be able to render services to the people because once you diagnose and have a wrong result,whatever decision you want to take on it would be wrong.
“So if you support them,they would be able to give quality service and the result that we get would be something people can be able to go with.
On the significance of the conference, he said,”the decisions that would be taken would be based on the result that you have and it is important that analyst must know what they are doing.
“If the diagnosis is wrong it affects your judgement on a lot of things, this need informs our conference this year to sharpen the analysts skills.
“Once you stop learning then you are dead,that is the more reason why the analyst should continue to empower himself and be able to get more knowledge and skills that would be able to make him stand out,because we are members of the global community.
“In fact member of International Union of Independent Laboratories. Equivalent of FIFA for soccer that you have and if you are a member you should be able to go out and speak for other people,so that in other parts of the world people would be able to say yes these are competent hands.
“Most of us analysts,only think about the analytical side of things,we just analyse from time to time but managing system is quite important apart from the laboratory management.
“You also need to think about how do you want to manage your lab to make it a viable business,because if you don’t manage it well,you are not going to get the result that would be able to protect the environment and be able guard all the products in the environment.
“That is why it is more important that we sharpen our members skills,in addition to that if you keep doing the same thing the old way you will keep getting old result and if you are getting old result in this present dispensation we are,globally you cannot get the type of system that will sustain all of us.
“This country moving forward for instance in the next 20,30 years, we would not still be thinking of what we are having now because we are in a changing world and if you don’t do things the way it should be done then you will be left behind.
“People are coming from other parts of the world to explore all these opportunities that we have here.
“That is the more reason why we now say that why not empower our own people as well so that we can do things and then have a result that is comparable with people all around the world.
Femi also raised issues posing debilitating effect on the practitioners daily activities,he said the problem is that even when you go to manufacturing outfits people in admin,marketing and sales are the ones that are promoted, those that are right there in the quality control units are left behind.
According to him the society has been around for fourteen years and that the NAFDAC mandated that for whatever product a company must be registered with NAFDAC and a certificate issued by an analyst .
“You need to register your company with NAFDAC for instance you must have a certificate of analysis issued by our members and that would advise even the manufacturers that the composition is correct and what you have produced is right.
“That is the more reason why last year they returned some products from Europe because they didn’t meet the quality standards.
“I can proudly say that some of these products didn’t pass through our members and some that even passed through them got samples not probable enough for them to come up with results that will be able to elicit informed decisions,adequate for the exported products.
The keynote Speaker Mr.Olusola Olawale spoke on the theme of the conference; ‘Sharpening Laboratory Management and Analytical Skills’.
Olusola highlighted in 5 the key factors of a thriving laboratory,citing the grey areas in this climes and how best an analyst can make ends meet through strict compliance to standards working with empirical data for a better result.
The Chairman of the day Pa Daniel Akoh however, x-rayed the issues none conformity with scientific quality control dynamics breeds in the society and its attendant negative effects.
“Without analysis you don’t get the understanding of what constitute a product,intimate knowledge about composition is key to analyst.
“They are’ progressing,it is a new profession in Nigeria that helps you to understand when you have something to handle,you don’t know you don’t know what you are handling, you cannot value it,it is not the size nor the colour, what is made of and capable of doing in relation to you buying something.
“The body is still young and has not advertised itself enough to be recognized by the public. The reason had been that it evolves from the government and the only body that is known so far is the Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria (IPAN),which is a public organization.
“The practitioners are coming out and saying look we are a body which should be known not through government but on our own.
“We are coming out now to tell Nigerians that here we are, we are a new profession, if you have any product that you are interested in knowing more about whatever it is we are the people to talk to.
“We are set up by law and known internationally, let Nigerians know that we are in a digital age and things should be rightly done”.
Professor Dibofori Orji a member of SOLTAN, also raised salient concerns on the need to harmonize the bodies for a better result.
She said, “This is a profession that is not widely accepted by Nigerians we have a lot of bodies who go into analysis of foods and drugs, name it and IPAN is on board to see how it can harmonize all other bodies to come under IPAN but incidentally some bodies are not really ready to join IPAN.
“You go to universities they have their laboratories where you do analysis and then they issue certificate, some of them are not even registered or accredited to do such things and for me it is still a far cry from what analysis should be in Nigeria.
“It is an uphill task for IPAN to really go to see how they can accredit this units but I know IPAN is trying and soon we are going to achieve it, yes they should not be discouraged they doing a great job and relevant to the society.
“In the nearest future we are going to improve on this IPAN curriculum for our certificates to be accepted for masters programme.” Said Prof Dibofori.
The FIPAN Chairman, IPAN Governing Council Immediate Past President,Dr Dahiru Adamu in own contribution, task the body to enhance synergy between the independent laboratories analysts, identify stakeholders and involve them early enough in various engagements.
“Involve MAN,NACCIMA and others, work and talk with them,this is a legacy we should ensure last long.
“I think we also need to address the low participation of analysts in this kind of conference, it is a typical indispensable aspect cardinal to ensuring even development in this country, so we should do the needful.”
In his goodwill message Alhaji Ajani Ibrahim from NESREA charged all stakeholders in the environment to be much more involved.
“Nobody is immune in case of any environmental eventualities so for sustainable development, we need to be involved.
” We are stakeholders in the environment, we are going to set up laboratories in Port-Harcourt, Kano and Lagos to guide standard and regulations.