The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has promised to review sanctions for exporters of substandard products.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, said this at a news conference, while expressing displeasure at the level substandard goods were being rejected in some foreign countries.
She said the agency has been able to identify some of the reasons, including non-compliance to guidelines established by NAFDAC to encourage participatory exports.
Adeyeye stated that almost all exported food products were being processed in the country without the statutory testing by NAFDAC. According to her, some of the goods are exported without NAFDAC’s quality control and safety tests hence their rejection.
Other reasons included the non-utilisation of hitherto free laboratory testing by NAFDAC for export samples, coupled with the connivance of unscrupulous agents. Also identified was the exclusion of NAFDAC’s requirements for its regulated products in the mandatory pre-shipment inspection in the National Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) as administered by the Federal Government appointed Pre-shipment Inspection Agents (PIAs).
Adeyeye stated that some of the exporters were unwilling to comply with minimal sanitary and phytosanitary measures required for exports to countries with stringent market access, as well as poor packaging by some manufacturers.
The NAFDAC boss noted that many exporters have formed the habit of disregarding importation requirements of trading partner countries. She also mentioned “penchant for sourcing from open markets for exports without any form of minimal safety or quality specifications and unwillingness to invest in pre-export activities that help to ensure sustainable export”.
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The DG boss said to ratify these challenges as part of the outcome of its recent meeting with the United Kingdom Food Standard Agency (FSA), the agency would be commencing six regulatory measures to address the situation. She listed immediate inclusion and implementation, as a matter of urgency, NAFDAC Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Hygienic Practices (GHP) and laboratory testings such as mycotoxin, pesticide residue, and heavy metals certification for regulated food and drug products.
She said the National Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) would also be carried out on some of these products as administered by the Federal Government appointed Pre-shipment Inspection Agents (PIAs). Other measures, she mentioned, were the inclusion of NAFDAC in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Export Proceed (NXP) form processing and engagement with the Comptroller-General of Customs as the new administrator of the Nigeria Single Window Trade portal to facilitate this.
She said NAFDAC had earlier engaged with CBN (Trade and Exchange Division) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (Home Finance) on this same matter. She said the agency would also be strengthening in-country regulatory infrastructure on export with the introduction of NAFDAC Regulations on Export 2022. Adeyeye added that the regulation was already hosted on NAFDAC’s website with e-copy sent to exporters, trade associations and professional bodies for their input and comments within the next 60 days, which began on October 11. She said the agency would also be collaborating with the Nigerian Exports Promotion Council (NEPC) on regulation of goods.
According to her, the agency will continue with awareness meetings with the export trade operators on the NAFDAC’s guidelines.