From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) announced on Monday, that it has granted a product renewal waiver to small business operators, to enable them to act as catalysts for Nigeria’s economic transformation.
A statement from NAFDAC indicated that the Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, announced the waiver at a meeting with operators of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), in Lagos.
She said that NAFDAC would continue to drive collaboration and understanding between the MSME operators and regulatory authorities with a view to empowering them in terms of the next step for their businesses.
“We remain committed to meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the business community, especially small businesses. The gains and positive impact of subjecting their processes and products to regulatory scrutiny are immense,” she stated.
Prof Adeyeye stressed that MSMEs drive the economy of Nigeria, noting that Nigeria successfully came out of recession a few years ago due to the contributions of the MSMEs. They were the magic wand that sustained the economy during turbulent times.
‘’However, three of our mandates, notably, food, packaged water, cosmetics and even some chemicals, herbals are under MSMEs, hence we do not take MSMEs matter lightly’’, she said.
She suggested that operators of MSMEs should always focus on one product that is well accepted by the consumers rather than manufacturing many products at the same time, with none doing well in the market.
‘’Don’t make five products at a time, please. Focus on one or two, and put all your efforts there to make it better and globally competitive. You should also dream big, by entering the global market with your products,” she suggested.
She emphasised the commercial benefits and opportunities that abound for products that have been subjected to regulatory scrutiny, describing them as immense, and one of such is the possibility of exporting such goods.
‘’With exportation comes quality. Without being quality-conscious, exported products would be rejected. We are here to work with you to take your trading to the level that you want. I want us to also think not of just what we consume here in Nigeria but what we can export’.’
The NAFDAC boss, however, disclosed that the Agency was already in discussion with the United Kingdom Department of Business and Trade, to build a bilateral relationship whereby Nigerian products that are exported to the United Kingdom will be of quality, having been registered and certified by NAFDAC.
She regretted the incidences of rejected food exports from Nigeria at the point of entry due to bad quality, stressing that if such food items were subjected to NAFDAC scrutiny, the incidents of rejected food exports from Nigeria would have been greatly curtailed.
‘’Please let’s think of the future or where we can take our products to. Nigerians abroad are concerned about what we are doing in terms of food that they cannot live without overseas.
“Some of our people cannot live without eating Eba, (Cassava flour) pounded yam or Amala (Yam flour). Some people cannot cook without palm oil. There are a lot of opportunities for us to tap into,’’ she noted.