The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has disclosed that the importation of syringes from overseas will destroy local pharmaceutical enterprises and has issued a warning against it.
This is stated in a statement provided to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday, which was signed by Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director-General of NAFDAC.
During a courtesy call at her office, Adeyeye chastised the newly appointed management of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, telling them to put the interests of the nation ahead of their own interests as clearing agents in the country’s ports.
In order to stop Nigerian food exports to the EU, USA, and other western nations from being rejected, she urged the agents to work together with the NAFDAC.
During a recent facility tour, she also described how she was astounded by the enormous investments made by a local pharmaceutical business to produce syringes locally in Nigeria.
According to the head of NAFDAC, the quality of the facilities she visited on the ground was on par with that of any nation in Europe or the United States.
She claimed that upon touring the facility and being shown throughout the warehouse, she was extremely unsettled by the sight of enormous unsold merchandise.
Despite a hefty import duty imposed on the goods to protect the local market, she said that over 1.5 billion units of the product were sitting unused in the warehouse as a result of low sales, which were made worse by the influx of imported syringes into the nation.
She expressed remorse over the intelligence information that reached her, which suggested that some concessions were being made at the port of entry to permit the unauthorized entry of syringe containers into the nation.
According to a United States Food and Drug Administration report, several syringes imported from Southeast Asia were of low quality, as disclosed by the NAFDAC DG.
Adeyeye pondered why the goods weren’t transported by night into Nigerian warehouses but rather by persons.
The head of NAFDAC offered her condolences to manufacturers, expressing her grief at the difficulties of not earning sales, particularly after making a substantial financial investment.
According to Adeyeye, accredited customs agents play a crucial role in facilitating the safe and legal import and export of commodities by guaranteeing adherence to necessary requirements.
She praised the familiarization visit and underlined its goal of fostering productive cooperation and teamwork.
“Billions of naira were lost by Nigeria in trade that could have helped our people.”Approximately 70% of our exports are refused, with food products being the most common category. Since none of these rejected goods underwent NAFDAC regulatory review, our nation is embarrassed.
“For this reason, I think this association is important because the products that are either imported or exported frequently have a significant impact on how strong our economy is.”
She claimed that the global market was inherently competitive in the domain of exports.
She said that only premium goods in excellent packaging and with the necessary certifications could be sold internationally.
She expressed her dismay at the state of affairs in the global market on the problems of quality, standard, certification, and suitable packaging for made-in-Nigeria products meant for export.
But she emphasized that the issue of rejections had to be addressed, noting that some exporters have gotten false documentation—particularly phony lab results—instead of sending their goods to NAFDAC’s ISO 17025:2015 approved labs for examination.
Speaking in a similar tone, Mr. Emenike Nwokochi, National President of ANLCA, bemoaned how embarrassing it was to purchase yam overseas and be informed that it originated in Ghana, despite Nigeria being the world’s largest producer of the vegetable.
Even when the Naira continued to decline, he said that Nigerians were powerless to stop it.
Nonetheless, he vowed that his organization would cooperate with NAFDAC in order to accomplish the shared objective of advancing the country’s economy.
