Abuja — The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control NAFDAC, Cocoa Processors Association of Nigeria (COPAN) and other stakeholders in food export trade have agreed to work together to boost non-oil export trade and end food products rejection abroad.
A statement by the NAFDAC's Resident Media Consultant Sayo Akintola said that the goal of the collaboration is to end rejection of processed and semi-processed cocoa products and other food exports by foreign countries.
The agreement was struck in a deal at the NAFDAC Export Stakeholder's Interactive Session with Cocoa Processors Association of Nigeria (COPAN), Network of Practicing Non-oil Exporters of Nigeria (NPNEN), Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA) on the draft NAFDAC export regulations in Lagos.
While addressing stakeholders, the Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye allayed the fears about the provisions of the draft cocoa regulations that the agency posted on its website for comments.
She noted that regulations are legal instruments for control and elucidation of standards for the compliance of all stakeholders in the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale and use of regulated products.
She also said that the regulations derive from the enabling enactments and stipulate red lines and penalties against infringement.
Adeyeye explained that NAFDAC which is now a WHO ML3 Regulatory Agency has, under her leadership, updated and gazetted 21 new regulations covering many areas of the agency's regulatory activities, stressing that export regulations is just one of the several regulations that are in the process of being gazetted into law.
Her words: "As you are all aware, often, our regulated products which are packaged, and for most of the time, exported without NAFDAC certification failed at the entry borders and reports have accumulated to put Nigeria at a disadvantage in international commerce."
He said that a few stakeholders' products are already on the red list of some importing nations.
Adeyeye pointed out that this has been the outcome of years of poor oversight and lack of regulatory supervision of the quality and safety components of regulated products produced, packaged and presented for export, adding that these enabling laws have placed the responsibility of regulation and control of the quality and safety of these products on NAFDAC.
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She added that NAFDAC has continued to pursue regulatory interventions at both local and international levels to ensure that the nation is not totally and completely banned from exporting any kind of food product in international commerce.
