National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, says it is working in concert with other relevant government agencies to address the issue of rejection of Nigeria's food product abroad.
She said among other things, the agencies would soon begin a nationwide awareness on food safety under the Inter-Agency collaboration forum.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Christianah Adeyeye who stated this while speaking to journalists shortly after a meeting of some agencies, tagged: “Effective Inter- Agencies Collaboration as a Means to Diversify Nigerian Economy through Export”, expressed worry over the continued rejection of Nigerian food products in the international market stressing that they are teaming up to ensure the safety of the foods locally as well as facilitate trade at the same time.
According to her, the rejection was not only about losing money but losing Nigeria’s image.
“We are working together to ensure that bad products do not go out of the country anymore and that is one of the reasons why we put this meeting so that we can consolidate our efforts. From our discussion, we are planning to consolidate through enlightenment, targeted sensitization and consolidated testing of these products between SON and NAFDAC. We want our people to understand the right thing to do before they ship their products outside the country.”
The agencies that attended the meeting include Nigerian Customs Service, Standard Organization of Nigeria, SON, Shippers Councils, Nigeria Export Promotion Council, NEPC, Nigeria Agricultural, and Quarantine Service, NAQS, among others.
