The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), has met with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) with a view to jointly working together to tackle the menace of sub-standard products in the country.
Speaking during the virtual meeting, the Director General of the NACCIMA, Ambassador Ayo Olukanni, mulled the idea of regular strategic collaboration between the two groups to improve the standards of locally manufactured food and drug products.
According to the NACCIMA boss, such a collaboration will enable the agency and the Organised Private Sector (OPS) group to continuously sensitize and education the public, especially manufacturers of food and drugs, on issues relating to procedures and requirements for manufactured goods registration.
In her remarks during the parley, the NAFDAC boss, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye expressed the willingness of the agency to work with the NACCIMA and the OPS to enable the agency achieve its statutory mandate as it relates to food and drug standardization in the country.
Recalling that the two groups have worked closely in the past, Adeyeye canvassed the need for strengthening the partnership in the years ahead.
After the exchange of ideas by the two groups’ chiefs and other contributors, it was agreed that both organizations will harness their structures to work together to achieve the desired objectives in the interest of food and drug consumers as well as the nation’s economic growth.
Some of the resolutions from the strategic meeting include, that a quarterly NACCIMA-NAFDAC consultative meeting at the highest level should be held; regular meetings between Regional offices of NAFDAC across the country and NACCIMA members nationwide should also be held to review issues and resolve necessary matters; there is need for improvement in existing relationships between NAFDAC departments and NACCIMA trade/sectoral groups.
At the end of the meeting, a Technical Working Committee (TWC), comprising the NACCIMA and NAFDAC representatives, was set up and saddled with the responsibility of planning and organizing quarterly editions of the ‘NACCIMA-NAFDAC Quarterly Meeting’, among other collaborative initiatives.
