The request of the House of Representatives that the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) be allowed back into the nation’s ports and borders after a nine-year absence is a welcome one.
The House decision was made during a debate initiated by Mr. Ndudi Elumelu, who had first raised the matter in December last year. Arguing that the country had witnessed the unrestrained importation of sub-standard and dangerous products as a result of the absence of the two agencies, the House urged the Federal Government to ensure that they returned as quickly as possible.
Both agencies, along with the Agricultural Quarantine Services, were ordered out of the ports in October 2011 by the then Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The action had been taken in response to complaints that the profusion of agencies at the nation’s main entry points was hampering efficiency and promoting corruption and unethical practices.
While the intentions of the former minister may have been well-meant, it is clear that the expulsion of NAFDAC and SON was a mistake. The argument that too many agencies were littering the nation’s major gateways may have been tenable, but if their numbers were to be pruned, the two agencies responsible for the safety of foods, pharmaceuticals, electrical appliances and other vital imports should not have been among those to leave.
It simply does not make sense for bodies like the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Department of State Services (DSS) to be present at the ports while demanding that NAFDAC and SON go away.
NAFDAC’s brief of ensuring that all imported food products are wholesome and fit for human consumption is just as important as the NDLEA’s anti-illegal narcotics mandate. SON’s responsibility of ensuring the standardisation and quality of all industrial products cannot be less essential than the DSS’s overarching concerns with national security.
The critically-important nature of the work NAFDAC and SON do simply cannot be underestimated. In March 2018, NAFDAC destroyed unwholesome foods and fake drugs worth N4.7 billion in Gombe, Kaduna and Ogun states, and Abuja. An estimated 200,000 people die of food poisoning annually in the country, and the cost of illnesses associated with food-borne diseases is a staggering U.S. $3.6 billion a year.
In March, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) claimed that Nigeria loses an estimated N10 billion annually to the importation of fake and substandard goods. In April, SON announced that it had confiscated substandard products worth some N300 billion over the past few months.
The argument that the nation’s main entryways suffer from an excess of agencies is not as strong as it initially seems to be. The presence of several different agencies with distinct but overlapping responsibilities at national ports and borders is a global norm. Clear rules of engagement and well-defined operating procedures are supposed to ensure that there are no turf wars and that each agency is able to perform its specific function without being obstructed by others. Information-sharing protocols are standard practice, and joint operations are undertaken where necessary.
This is the goal that the various agencies operating in Nigeria’s ports should strive to attain. Indeed, if they were truly committed to their responsibilities, there should be no reason why they cannot get along. In this regard, the Federal Government should ensure that each agency’s mandate is clearly defined and delimited. The establishment of inter-agency committees to coordinate operations and share intelligence would also help to facilitate their work.
The sooner NAFDAC and SON are allowed back into Nigeria’s main entryways, the better it will be for the nation as a whole.
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