From Sola Ojo, Abuja
The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment (FMITI) and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare have collaborated to tackle irregularities in the food export system.
The ministries also met to unlock the healthcare value chain for effective transformation.
This development was announced during a courtesy visit by the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Muhammad Pate, to the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, in Abuja.
The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, was also in attendance.
The two ministries identified key areas of collaboration, including the regulation of food exports, the role of NAFDAC in enabling trade across borders, and the unlocking of the healthcare value chain.
These efforts are aimed at supporting President Bola Tinubu’s agenda towards transforming the economy.
“We are determined to ensure that Nigeria achieves greatly in these areas in the long run,” said Dr Oduwole. “We will start working on areas of unlocking the healthcare value chain, and we will identify areas of concern on the draft policy document.”
Pate said that the issues have been lingering between the ministries and needed to be tackled effectively.
He said that the issues were important to the two ministries, adding that the effort was to support President Bola Tinubu in his agenda towards transforming the country.
“This meeting is bringing two sectors that are ordinarily not closely connected. But there are specific things that have prompted to reach out, which has to do with the exportation of food and its regulation.
“The second element is the role of the regulatory body, NAFDAC, in constraining or enabling the trade that we have across various borders.
“The third issue is the regulatory function links to our efforts to unlock the healthcare value chain.
“These are issues that have been lingering, and I thought we should use this opportunity to come together since we are all on the same team,” he said.
The minister said that the determination was to ensure that Nigeria achieved greatly in those areas in the long run.
Oduwole, while responding, said that both ministries would start working on areas of unlocking the healthcare value chain.
She said that the issues were very vital and required effective measures to be tackled.
“I was briefed about the draft policy and medical devices of syringe and needles manufacturing in Nigeria.
“We have to identify the areas and resolutions, and to identify areas of the ministry’s concern on the draft policy document, and were we supposed to emit in further meeting with my ministry.
“The meeting is to discuss how to deliberate on the merit and demerit of the policy, as well as the issues of manufacturing.
“They are indeed under the eight-point agenda of Mr President,” she said.
The NAFDAC D-G said that Nigerians needed to change their mindsets in the area of exportation of goods, adding that those regulatory agencies should regulate effectively.
According to her, the effort will help to avoid the embarrassment of rejection of our goods.