The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has declared that it will no longer tolerate the unquantifiable embarrassment brought on Nigeria by the unscrupulous exporters that sidestepped the regulator only to have their goods rejected by the country of destination.
The agency said henceforth, no exporters should export any NAFDAC Regulated product without it being certified of its safety and quality status including full compliance with the destination country government requirements.
According to the agency’s Director General (DG), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, this is to avert colossal economic loss resulting from the rejection of non-compliant exports by the trading partners and the embarrassment brought on the image of the country.
Adeyeye, while addressing the media in Abuja on Tuesday on Nigeria’s export rejects and continued efforts of her agency to change the narrative steps have commenced on the urgent need to nip the negative trend in the bud
She listed the reasons behind the rejection of the exported food and drug to the United Kingdom (UK), the European Union (EU), and other places, saying, “The challenge bedeviling the export process of NAFDAC regulated products especially, assuring safety and quality status of food exports in Nigeria has been traced to:/ non-compliance with advisory guidelines established by NAFDAC to encourage participatory exports.
“Almost all exported food products are processed without the statutory testing by NAFDAC. Therefore, it is not surprising that all the items exported without NAFDAC quality control and safety tests are rejected.
“Non-utilization of hitherto free laboratory testing by NAFDAC for export samples coupled with the connivance of unscrupulous agents.
“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 FGN appointed Pre-shipment Inspection Agents (PIAs).
“Unwillingness of exporters to comply with minimal sanitary and phytosanitary measures required for exports to countries with stringent market access.
“Poor packaging, disregard for importation requirements of trading partners countries f. Penchant for sourcing from open markets for exports without any form of minimal safety or quality specifications
“Unwillingness to invest in pre-export activities that help to ensure sustainable exports as well as disinformation on the roles of NAFDAC in the pre-shipment inspection and verification exercise of container stuffing”.
The DG however said the agency has initiated several steps to curb the negative trend while urging exporters of NAFDAC’s regulated products to take advantage of the regulations and save the country further embarrassment from the international community.
She also disclosed that the agency is on the verge of reviewing its extant tariff-based sanction regime for recalcitrant exporters for optimal effect.
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