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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has raised the alarm that many companies in Nigeria are operating with forged NAFDAC certificate, with a threat to clamp down on them as soon as possible.
The Agency claimed that the forged certificate could have been procured through Consultants even with poor manufacturing practices.
NAFDAC Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, in a statement on Sunday, warned such companies to desist from such practices and approach NAFDAC for relevant documentation.
She, however, advised companies with expired NAFDAC certificate particularly those with exporting capacities to initiate the renewal process before engaging in export, stressing that the representative of the Agency at the National Approval Committee (NAC) would ensure that only registered NAFDAC regulated products are approved for export.
She added that the Agency’s participation in AfCFTA and ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) NAC is very key to ascertain the Certificate of Origin, and to ensure that only registered NAFDAC regulated products are approved for export.
Meanwhile, the Agency has encouraged the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria to take advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA) Zone Area to expand their business frontiers and enter the global market.
It believed that involvement of local SMEs would help to fast track the much expected transformation of the Nigeria’s economy.
Prof. Adeyeye recalled that AfCFTA agreement covers trade in goods and services, investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy with the aim of creating a single market for goods and services in 55 African Union (AU) member states.
She added: “It also aimed to liberalize and facilitate the movement of people, investment, and business across the continent. It would amongst others, expand market frontiers for Nigerian exporters of goods and services, establish rules to evoke trade remedy, safeguard the Nigerian economy from dumping and unfair trade practices and improve competitiveness.”
NAFDAC boss reassured that, in spite of the liberalty, the Agency will strengthen its instruments to safeguard and ensure that the expected quality, wholesomeness, efficacy to human and animal health are guaranteed.
She disclosed that in the extant regional ETLS that happens to be one of the regional economy community (REC) building blocks for AFCTA, over 850 Nigerian companies with more than 6,000 products have been admitted into the Scheme with participation level of 50 per cent of the regional total.
She confirmed that currently, Nigeria ranked first with Ghana and Cote D’lvoire ranking second and third respectively among ETLS beneficiaries, urging Nigerian businesses to build on the record.
