From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has reminded table water producers that millions of Nigerians rely on them for portable water, hence they must strictly abide by the NAFDAC’s Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and all other safety measures.
Its Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who spoke at the national convention of the Association For Table Water Producers of Nigeria (ATWAP), in Abuja, on Tuesday, informed them that NAFDAC has strengthened its systems to monitor their activities and ensure that defaulter factories are sanctioned.
The NAFDAC boss who spoke through Abubakar Jimoh, said that the Agency, in addition to violation of GMP, observed that many of the table water producers engages in production in the absence of production manager, thus leaving the process for only operators.
He added: “We also observed that some water factories are operating with expired license, without batch coding of water products, leakages on the pipelines, manual filing of the bottle/jar, and also producing in a pest infested environment.
“In addition to that, we equally observed that some factories stack finished products on bare floor, among several other common lapses that could attract severe sanctions from the Agency.”
He encouraged the table water producers to periodically refer to operation guidelines of NAFDAC to ensure compliance with the rules and avoid sanctions.
He, however, disclosed that between January and August, 2021, no fewer than 2, 153 water companies were registered by the Agency.
ATWAP President, Mrs. Clementina Ativie, in her remarks, said that any society with adequate safe, portable and wholesome water is a healthy society, and admitted that government alone cannot adequately supply required quantity of drinkable water needed for Nigerians, hence the intervention of ATWAP to bridge the gap.
She confessed that table water production in Nigerian has grown to become a big industry, and ATWAP has for the past 22 years been in the forefront of providing wholesome water which is life, to the populace through standardized packaged water and most times delivered to their door steps.
She highlighted some of the challenges they face which include quackery and illegal producers, poor electricity supply, multiple taxation and overlapping functions of government agencies at all levels.
“But despite all these challenges, we are still pushing to give Nigerians wholesome packaged water to places where drinking water interventions are needed,” she said.
Ativie, thus, explained that there are over 16, 000 ATWAP members nationwide, and each producer employs an average of 15 people directly and about 15 more people indirectly. “We employ close to 1.6 million people along the water production value chain, which includes distribution, retailing and waste management. We are therefore relevant in Nigerian economy.”
She appealed for interventions from the government in form of special financing and equipment sourcing, and also solicited for tax waivers and other forms of encouragement that would allow them serve Nigerians better.
She, however, complained about the difficulty in regulating the water Industry because of size and other factors. “Regulation is a huge task due to the large number of producers involved, access to location of some factories, relocation of registered address without recourse to notifying regulatory agencies for proper documentation and traceability, among others.