The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it needs collaboration with security agencies to ensure Nigerian products are not rejected abroad due to poor quality.
On Sunday, NAFDAC director general Mojisola Adeyeye said in a statement that the agency is seeking collaboration with the Nigeria Custom Services (NCS), State Security Service and others to promote Nigerian goods abroad.
Spokesman Olusayo Akintola released the statement on NAFDAC’s behalf.
Mrs Adeyeye said the collaboration would reduce frequent rejection of Nigerian food exported to Europe and the United States of America.
The statement disclosed that Adeyeye made the assertion at the official commissioning of the New NAFDAC Office complex for the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
Mrs Adeyeye lamented that over 70 per cent of food exported from Nigeria are rejected abroad with huge financial losses to the exporters and the country at large.
She disclosed that the deplorable state of export trade facilitation for regulated products leaving the country has continued to be a serious cause for concern for NAFDAC.
Mrs Adeyeye said that a trip to NAFDAC export warehouses within the international airport would explain unequivocally the major reason for the continuous rejection of Nigerian exports abroad.
The DG stated that the agency was responding to this great challenge, hence the initiation of a collaborative adventure with the government agencies at the ports towards ensuring that goods are of requisite quality.
She said that the collaboration would ensure that goods from Nigeria meet the regulatory requirements of the importing countries and destinations before such are even packaged and hauled to the ports for shipment.
According to her, this raises the need for a more enhanced regulation of export-packaging, pre-shipment testing and certification to provide some quality assurance and to minimise rejection.
Mrs Adeyeye said that this would also save the country’s reputation in international commerce, while calling on stakeholders in the export trade to see this as a call to duty and collaborate with NAFDAC.
She, however, commended NCS for the symbiotic relationship that exists between its management and the agency, saying “without customs, we will not be able to do a lot of what we are doing.”
Mrs Adeyeye noted that the collaboration between customs and NAFDAC was a huge one, adding that NAFDAC is a complex organisation which works with different organisations.
She disclosed that NAFDAC is a scientific agency which works with the police, SSS, Interpol, FBI because of a few unscrupulous elements.
According to her, considering the money spent on getting those products out of the country, it is a double loss for both the exporter and the country.
(NAN)
