Nigeria, Ghana and other countries of the Economic Community of West African States have begun moves to harmonise standards for the production of face masks.
The Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Osita Aboloma, said this in a statement issued on Sunday.

Aboloma said that the agency was already working with all other 14 member countries of the ECOWAS Commission to harmonise the standard for production of face masks.

This, he said, was vital to ensure quality as the region intensifies the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

He said already, a task force had been set up by the ECOWAS Standards Technical Management Committee.

He said the task force would be chaired by a representative from Nigeria while a representative from Mali would serve as the secretary.

He said the task force would be saddled with the responsibility to harmonise the standard within the shortest possible time through virtual meetings.

Other members of the task force, according to the SON DG, are Senegal, Cote D’ Voire, The Gambia, Ghana and Cape Verde.

The coronavirus pandemic had led to unprecedented disruptions to global supply chains, sharp drop in global crude oil prices, turmoil in global stock and financial markets, lockdown of large swaths movements of persons in many countries, among others