The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) was established by an Enabling Act Number 56 of December 1971 - the Standards Organisation of Nigeria cap 412 of the laws of Federal Republic of Nigeria, with a commencement date of 1 January 1970, when the Organisation started to function. The Act has three amendments: Act Number 20 of 1976, Act Number 32 of 1984 and Act Number 18 of 1990.

SON's governing body is known as the Nigerian Standards Council. This is the Policy making body for supervising the administration and financial management of the Organisation. The Director General of the Organisation is the Chief Executive whose responsibilities revolve around the day-to-day administration of the Organisation within the broad guidelines approved by the Council.

The mandate of the Organisation includes preparation of Standards relating products, measurements, materials, processes and services amongst others and their promotion at National, Regional and International levels; certification of products, assistance in the production of quality goods and services; improvement of measurement accuracies and circulation of information relating to standards.