– Some local indigenous tomato production firms have labeled NAFDAC of as a compromised agency which no longer enforces regulations
– The agency is accused of issuing threat letters to shut down the operations of local tomato production firms anytime a complaint fake tomato importation is lodged at NAFDAC
– NAFDAC vehemently denies the claims that the agency committed any of the infractions as alleged by the local indigenous tomato production firms
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has been accused by indigenous tomato production firms of encouraging the importation of fake and substandard tomato paste into the country.
According to the Punch, the accusations were made at a public hearing conducted by the joint House of Representatives committees on healthcare services, drugs and narcotics in Abuja.
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At the sitting, China and India were identified as two countries where the fake, substandard and cancer-causing tomato paste was being imported from.
Leading the accusation against NAFDAC, the chairman of Erisco Foods, Eric Umeafia, told the the committee that unknown to Nigerians, NAFDAC of today was a compromised agency, which no longer enforced regulations.
Umeafia who called NAFDAC a cash and carry regulator said the agency was in the habit of issuing threat letters to shut down the operations of local tomato production firms anytime a complaint over such illegality was lodged at NAFDAC
Supporting the above allegations, the managing director of Dangote tomato pastry, Abdulkarim Kaita, said some Chinese firms stored “expired” bulk tomato paste in their factories only to mix it with fresh ones for exportation to Nigeria.
He alleged that in China, the Chinese did not eat the grade of tomato paste they exported to Nigeria.
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However, Prof. Samson Adebayo, who spoke for NAFDAC at the hearing, vehemently denied claims that the agency committed any of the infractions alleged by Dangote and Erisco.
He advised the committee to caution the Erisco boss for making “unsubstantiated allegations capable of chasing foreign investors out of Nigeria’.
In another development, the federal government has said it cannot stop non-citizens of Nigeria from grazing their cattle across the country due to the ECOWAS Transhumance Protocol which has given the right of free movement to citizens of member countries.
The government stated that despite the fact that it had been established that many herdsmen who were involved in clashes in Nigerian villages were not Nigerians, it said the ECOWAS Transhumance Protocol the law is similar to the fundamental right to freedom of movement in the Nigerian constitution, the Punch reports.
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