National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said at the weekend that 70 per cent of food items being exported out of Nigeria to EU countries and US are rejected because of poor quality packaging and presentation.
The Agency noted that such rejection over the years has caused Nigerians huge financial losses, in addition to affecting the reputation and image of Nigeria at global business community.
Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, in a statement, promised that such treatments will soon end because the Agency is working on strengthening the relationship and collaborations with other government agencies that operates at the Ports.
She said the deplorable state of export trade facilitation for regulated products leaving the country has continued to be a serious cause for concern, adding that a visit to NAFDAC export warehouses within the international airports will explain unequivocally the major reason for the continuous rejection of Nigerian exports abroad.
She, however, noted that the Agency was responding to the great challenge by initiating a collaborative adventure with the government agencies at the Ports towards ensuring that goods are of requisite quality and meet the regulatory requirements of the importing countries and destinations before such are packaged and hauled to the Ports for shipment.
This, she said, raises the need for a more enhanced regulation of export packaging, pre-shipment testing and certification to provide some quality assurance and to minimize rejects.
For national reputation in the international commerce, Prof. Adeyeye, called on stakeholders in the export trade to collaborate with NAFDAC for the sake of country and collective future.
She, however, commended the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for the symbiotic relationship that exists between its management and the Agency, saying ‘’without customs, we wouldn’t have been able to do a lot of what we have done over the period.
“The collaboration between Customs and NAFDAC is huge. NAFDAC is a complex organization. We are scientific. We are police and we work with DSS. We work with Interpol and FBI because of the few stakeholders that are unscrupulous.
“NAFDAC also collaborates with Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS), to ensure that due diligence is done because over 70 per cent of the products that leave our ports get rejected.
“Considering the money spent on getting those products out of the country, it is a double loss for both the exporter and the country. Without the police we cannot do much in terms of investigation and enforcement. We have over 80 policemen with us in NAFDAC that help us during raids or investigations.”
She further explained that the Agency has embarked on the optimization and customization of its processes, stating that the Ports Inspection Data-Capture and Risk Management System (PIDCARMS) has been deployed in all Ports and land borders to automatically capture and process data for imported regulated products from the Nigeria Customs Information System (NICIS).
The NAFDAC boss also said the Agency is working assiduously with relevant stakeholders towards implementation of traceability for pharmaceuticals in Nigeria, recalling that traceability pilot was conducted successfully for COVID-19 vaccines distribution and a scale-up is being done for medicines and other regulated products.
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