SON certification: MANCAP, SONCAP and exports

Which Standards Organisation of Nigeria programme covers a manufacturer's local products, imported inputs and exports, and how to keep the certificates.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 4 min read · For Manufacturing businesses in Nigeria

A Nigerian manufacturer can meet the Standards Organisation of Nigeria at three different doors. Products made in its own factory for sale at home go through one programme. Machinery, raw materials or components it brings in from abroad go through another. Goods it sends to buyers in Ghana or further afield may go through a third. Add a product that needs an energy label or a food line that sells to Halal-conscious customers, and the list grows.

Each programme has its own purpose and its own paperwork, and mixing them up wastes time at the worst moment, when goods are waiting at a port or a distributor is waiting for stock. This article sets out which SON programme applies to which part of a manufacturer's business, and how to keep the costs and certificates in order.

The law behind SON

SON says it was established by the SON Act No. 14, 2015. That Act repealed the earlier Standards Organisation of Nigeria Act, Cap 59 of the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004, in order to give the organisation additional functions and to increase the penalties for violations.

The point about penalties is the practical one. Standards obligations are not paperwork a manufacturer can treat as optional, and the 2015 Act was written partly to make the consequences of ignoring them heavier.

Matching the programme to the product

SON's certification services, as it lists them, include:

A single manufacturer may touch several. Take a firm in Ogun State that makes electric fans. The fans it sells in Nigeria fall under MANCAP. The motors it imports from abroad come in under SONCAP. If it sells fans to a buyer in a neighbouring country, SONEXCAP is the export programme to ask about. And because fans use electricity, the energy labelling scheme may apply as well. SON's site is where the current scope of each programme is published, and it is worth checking each product line against it rather than assuming.

MANCAP for what you make

MANCAP is the programme SON lists for locally manufactured products. For most Nigerian manufacturers selling at home, this is the core certification, and it is tied to the product as made in your factory. A change of formulation, materials or process is a good moment to ask SON whether the existing certification still covers the product.

SONCAP for what you bring in

SON says SONCAP exists to ensure that products imported into Nigeria are safe and that import conditions have been met. For a manufacturer, that usually means imported inputs: machinery, spare parts, components and some raw materials.

The route is changing. SON has announced the mandatory migration of SONCAP and import permit processes to the National Single Window platform, and it has published a public notice of Bureau Veritas's voluntary withdrawal from the SONCAP scheme. A manufacturer that has relied on the same import arrangements for years should check with its clearing agent and with SON how its next consignment of inputs will be handled.

SONEXCAP, Halal and energy labels

SONEXCAP is SON's export conformity programme. Halal certification serves manufacturers whose customers look for it, often in food, beverages and personal care. SONMELS, the energy labelling scheme, is described by SON as mandatory, which makes it one to check early for any product that uses power.

Management systems

Beyond products, SON lists management system certification among its services and has offered it since 1994. That covers how the business is run rather than a specific product. Some large buyers ask suppliers for it; for a smaller manufacturer it is usually a later step, after its products are covered.

Recording certification costs

Certification costs are real, recurring and easy to scatter across the ledger. In a Nigerian workspace in Achekam, which takes the Nigeria pack as its default on registration and on activation sets the naira and the Africa/Lagos time zone unless already set, they can be handled like any other supplier cost.

Record each invoice from SON, a testing laboratory or a consultant as a supplier bill, line by line with VAT, so that the certification fee, the testing charge and any travel are separate and can be posted to the right accounts. A bill without a purchase order waits for approval before it posts, which suits charges that arrive unannounced. Bills can then be paid in full or in parts from a chosen bank account. A dedicated expense account for standards and certification makes the yearly cost visible, which helps when pricing products. Tax on payments for goods and services is a separate matter; withholding tax on goods in Nigeria covers that.

Keeping the certificates

A certificate that cannot be found is nearly as bad as none. Document Centre is a folder-based store where you upload files or whole folders, then preview, download, rename, move, tag, archive and search them. A workable layout is one folder per programme with a sub-folder per product, each holding the certificate, the test reports and the correspondence. Tag every certificate with its expiry year, and search for the tag at the start of each year to see what needs renewing. When a certificate is reissued, upload it as a new version; the earlier ones are kept.

If you export, the tax treatment of export sales is set out in VAT on exports from Nigeria.

A first step

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria's website lists its certification programmes and current notices. Draw up a table of every product you make, every input you import and every market you export to, mark the programme that covers each, and check the gaps with SON.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.