From: Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin-Kebbi
The Kebbi State office of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said it has reduced circulation of substandard products in the state with the seizure of goods worth about N15 million down to N1.6 million in three years.
The success was achieved due to the enforcement exercises carried out by the Agency in the state.
Coordinator of the Agency in the state, Alhaji Garba Adamu disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Birinin-Kebbi, on Tuesday. He stated that the reduction was recorded within 2015 and 2017.
According to him, “There is drastic drop in the patronage of substandard and unregister products in the state. In 2015 for instance, we are able to seize items worth more than N15 million in the market . But in 2016 ,we seized items worth N5 million and this year we have seized items worth N1.6million from marketers.
” This reduction shown that there is awareness now among the people compare to what happen in the past where consumer can’t differentiated between substandard and standard products. Now, distributors ,retailers and consumers are checking the expiring date before buying any product .” he said.
Adamu said that the reduction of substandard and unregister products supplying to the markets have continue due to the consistent consumers vigilant of not patronising any product without NAFDAC approval.
Speaking of business registration, Adamu said that NAFDAC had reduced registration costs and bottlenecks as part of Federal Government’s efforts to elevate indigenous entrepreneurs.
“We have also established Small Business Support Desk to guide small business through registration processes and also serve as enquiry point for them on regulatory issues.
” Before ,you have to five rooms before your business can be register for small scale. Now , we can register your business with one room with little money. Even women can register their products in their kitchens. This is to encourage small scale enterprenours in Nigeria” ,he said.
He added that the agency has established products registration outreach in order to provide interactive engagement and rendering constructive advice on documentations, labelling and other requirements, to facilitate the registration process.