The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has warned operators in the Kano Free Trade Zone against producing substandard goods that could damage Nigeria’s international reputation.
NAFDAC’s Coordinator in Kano, Kassim Ibrahim, gave the warning during a two day investors and stakeholders meeting organised by the Kano Free Trade Zone. The event had the theme Strengthening partnership for efficient service delivery in the Free Trade Zone.
Ibrahim said the agency currently holds a Maturity Level 3 rating under the World Health Organization’s Global Benchmarking Tool and cannot afford any practice that would weaken the progress already made.
He explained that any product that fails to meet quality standards, whether produced for export or local use, reflects badly on the agency and the country.
He said, “NAFDAC is now the World Health Organization Global Benchmarking Tool, as rated Maturity Level 3, which we call ML3. Before we achieved this status, there were a lot of processes involved.
“By the time you are producing substandard products in the free trade zone because you feel the product is not coming into the domestic market but you are exporting, anything they find in the importing country that falls short of the standard, NAFDAC is indirectly or directly affected because you are carrying our registration number. So it will affect our rating as a food and drug regulatory agency.”
Ibrahim urged manufacturers to follow all NAFDAC rules and ensure every product meets safety, quality, and efficacy requirements.
He added, “Our call to manufacturers and investors in the free trade zone is to keep to the rules and regulations or keep to standard in order to help boost NAFDAC rating and the rating of Nigeria as a whole in our export.”
He also revealed that the agency plans to carry out unannounced inspections within the zone to improve surveillance and curb sharp practices.
Earlier, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, Dr Olufemi Ogunyemi, said the Kano Free Trade Zone generated N18.8 billion in revenue within ten months.
Ogunyemi, represented by the Head of the Zone, Richard Bassey, said the zone generated N1.8 billion, while Customs within the area recorded N17 billion, a major increase compared to last year.
He described the forum’s theme as timely, saying it aims to fix operational gaps and remove administrative barriers that slow down the zone’s activities.
