Daniel Kanu
Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has asked Nigerians to demand from the federal government that the ‘Fats and Oils Regulations, 2020’ be gazetted.
This is because the country is lagging as regulations needed to actualize the 2023 deadline on trans-fat were yet to be passed and gazetted.
This request was made by the group during a sensitisation and mobilisation walk by CAPPA on Valentine ’s Day.
The group’s carnival-like procession began at the Allen-Roundabout and ended at Ikeja roundabout.
Wearing white T-shirts with the inscription such as “Trans fat-Nigeria”, they danced as they distributed flyers along the very busy Awolowo road, Ikeja.
Some of the flyers read “it’s about time, implement the “fats and oils regulation 2020 and the pre-packaged Ice and water labeling regulation 2020. People are dying”.
“You can celebrate Val without hurting /harming your heart”
“Good heath is wealth healthy diet is key to lifes’s navigation. No to dangerous oil”
“Government keep us safe and do the needful. No to trans-fatty foods”
Speaking to journalists at the event CAPPA, Executive Director, Akinboye Oluwafemi, lamented that many Nigerians still eat dangerous foods that cause cancer and other health hazards.
He disclosed that the “Federal Ministry of Health in Nigeria now has in its possession, the ‘Fats and Oils Regulations, 2020’ and the ‘Pre-packaged Food, Water and ICe Labeling Regulation 2020’ as transmitted by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control for review and onward and further action by the Federal Ministry of Justice”.
According to him “The regulations are in line with the REPLACE package of the World Health Organization to eliminate trans-fat from the global food supply by 2023”.
Akinboye said Nigeria is lagging as regulations needed to get to the actualisation of the 2023 deadline are yet to be passed and gazetted. In the same vein, the general public’s level of awareness is inadequate.
“The February 14 celebration of Valentine presents a great opportunity to engage the media and to also advocate and sensitize the public on the dangers of Trans-Fat foods consumption.
“As Nigerians gather to celebrate in different dimensions, the TFA campaign gets a rare chance to mobilise young people for an ‘inter-generational conversation’ via different platforms”.
He told The Sun Newspapers that the goal of the walk is to improve/increase the awareness level of Nigerians on the dangers of Trans-Fatty Acids.
During the walk CAPPA volunteers were also deployed to share ICE materials at the designated points where they also talked to people about the TFA campaign.