70% Of Nigerian Food Rejected Abroad – NAFDAC

According to Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), a significant portion of food exports from Nigeria, amounting to over 70 percent, are being rejected in foreign countries.

This statement was made during the official commissioning of the new NAFDAC Office complex for the Murtala Muhammed International Airport/NAHCO in Lagos.

In a statement released by Sayo Akintola, the Resident Media Consultant to NAFDAC, Professor Adeyeye emphasized the need for stronger collaboration between NAFDAC and other government agencies at the ports to address this issue.

She expressed her concern about the deplorable state of export trade facilitation for regulated products leaving the country, which has been a major factor contributing to the rejection of Nigerian exports abroad.

A visit to the NAFDAC Export warehouses at the international airport would reveal the main reason behind these continuous rejections.

However, Professor Adeyeye mentioned that NAFDAC is taking action to tackle this challenge by working closely with port agencies to ensure that goods meet the regulatory requirements of the importing countries and destinations.

She acknowledged the significant role played by the Nigeria Customs Service in enabling NAFDAC’s work, stating that their collaboration is crucial.

NAFDAC operates in a complex manner, as it combines scientific, policing, and investigative efforts, working alongside agencies such as the Department of State Services, Interpol, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to combat the involvement of a few unscrupulous stakeholders.

‘’The mandate to safeguard the health of the populace through ensuring that food, medicines, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals, and packaged water are safe, efficacious, and of the right quality in an economy that is overwhelmingly dependent on the importation of the bulk of its finished products and raw materials could never have been actualised without the effective presence of NAFDAC at the ports and land borders,’’ she said.

Commending the Nigeria Customs Service, she said, ‘’Without customs, we will not be able to do a lot of what we have been able to do. The collaboration between Customs and NAFDAC is huge. NAFDAC is a complex organisation. We are scientific. We are police and we work with the Department of State Services. We work with Interpol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of the few unscrupulous stakeholders.

“NAFDAC collaborates with Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Services 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. They help us a lot when we are doing raids or investigations as the case may be’’.