Health
Stop hiring consultants for NAFDAC registration, DG tells MSMEs owners
The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has warned Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises against engaging consultants to obtain NAFDAC registration numbers, saying many business owners have been defrauded in the process.
The DG said the agency deals directly with applicants and has deliberately kept registration costs low to support small businesses and encourage local production.
She stressed that NAFDAC sees itself as a partner of traders and manufacturers rather than an obstacle to business activities.
“We are partners of traders. NAFDAC is the partner of traders. We are for trade. And I want to start with the MSMEs. We gave palliatives to MSMEs twice. We charged very little, N35,000.
“We have not reviewed our tariff since 2020 because we want to make sure that the economic downturn has improved,” she said while answering questions during a programme on Channels TV.
The DG warned that business owners who bypass the agency and deal with consultants risk losing their money.
“But if an MSME goes to a consultant, the consultant will dupe them. And there have been a lot of cases where consultants dupe MSMEs,” the NAFDAC DG said.
She explained that the agency also subsidises laboratory testing for MSMEs to make product registration more affordable.
Adeyeye said, “We charge very little. If you are an MSME, we’re still going to take your product to the lab compared to the larger facility.
“But we normally do that. We beat the price, the cost down to improve, to make sure that our MSMEs thrive. So we are partners of trade.”
Speaking on larger industries, particularly pharmaceutical companies, the DG said NAFDAC had implemented policies aimed at boosting local manufacturing and reducing dependence on imports.
“Looking at the bigger companies, and I will use the example of the pharmaceutical companies. In 2019, we started what is called 5 Plus 5. The product that we have been importing into the country that we can also produce, we give you five years to migrate for local manufacturing or to partner. That has changed the industry, ” she said.
According to her, the policy has significantly reduced the volume of imported products in the affected categories.
“We have decreased importation of products under those categories, 5 Plus 5 and ceiling list. We have decreased importation by 70 percent,” Adeyeye said.
She said the intervention had helped stabilise Nigeria’s pharmaceutical sector.
“We have saved our pharmaceutical industry from oblivion because of our policies,” she said.
The DG added that the agency was working on a similar policy for the food industry to encourage more local production.
Adeyeye said, “For the food industry, we are working on a policy now, we call it global listing. If the product can be produced in Nigeria, we will tell you, please, you’re going to migrate or you partner with somebody that is already making it.”
She said the policy direction was informed by the challenges experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic when disruptions in global supply chains affected access to essential products.
“Because what we experienced during the pandemic, we don’t want it to happen again, where we were left hanging,” she said.
The DG also acknowledged the role of the Federal Government in supporting local pharmaceutical manufacturing.
“And thank God for President Bola Tinubu, who passed the Executive Order in 2024, giving incentives to the pharmaceutical industry so that they will be more incentivized to do local manufacturing. That has also helped,” she said.
She reiterated that NAFDAC remained committed to facilitating trade while ensuring that products meet the required safety and quality standards.
“So we are partners of trade, and we will continue to be partners of trade. We have digitized our system to make it easier,” she said.
The DG, however, noted that some regulatory processes could not be rushed because they involve laboratory analysis and facility inspections.
She said, “And we know that it may be a little slower, but testing in the lab, you cannot rush it. Inspection, you cannot rush it based on our staff capacity. So we are supporters of trade.”
Copyright PUNCH
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: health_wise@punchng.
