The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control NAFDAC has affirmed that Nigeria will not be dumping ground for banned chemicals from other countries.

 The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye who disclosed this weekend, debunked the insinuation that 40 percent of registered brands (not actives) of pesticide products used in Nigeria are either banned or restricted for use by the EU, thereby endangering the lives of people, animals, and the environment in Nigeria.

Adeyeye noted that  NAFDAC is a signatory to the international Convention that banned chemicals and pesticides such as the Rotterdam Convention – an international treaty designed to facilitate informed decision-making by countries with regard to trade in hazardous chemicals and pesticides.

In her remarks at the opening of a two-day top management committee meeting in Lagos,  Adeyeye said chemicals banned by international convention have been phased out and never entertained for registration or given import permits as raw materials for production.

She pointed out that NAFDAC is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that chemical products produced in Nigeria and those being imported into the country meet the prerequisite in-country approval as well as international standards, adding that NAFDAC has a stringent requirement of ensuring that any pesticide to be imported into Nigeria is on the market in the exporting country, and the current Free Sale Certificate is authenticated by the Nigerian Embassy in the exporting country.

According to her, the EU uses much lower Maximum Residual Limits (MRLs) than most other CODEX member countries, hence the EU raised observations for the codex secretariat and subsequently WTO to take note. With this, she explained that products with active ingredients that are accepted by other codex member countries including Nigeria are not allowed into the EU.

”A prudent and responsible use of pesticides and agrochemicals is the paramount caution in the use of the products in Nigeria. The Agency’s most recent effort in the support of advocating judicious use along with relevant stakeholders such as CropLife Nigeria and Nigeria Agro-Input Dealers Association (NAIDA) to train dealers/marketers of agrochemicals in Nigeria to be listed and in turn educate farmers on responsible use.

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“This is extremely important to forestall the risk of mishandling, poor storage, unsafe exposure to the products, and unregistered/banned agrochemicals in circulation. The Agency has over the years developed regulations in line with international best practices,” she noted.

Adeyeye, however, pointed out that the lack of scientific data in Nigeria has been identified as a gap that explains why the country participants refrain from raising observations during Codex meetings, therefore, have no choice but to go by the general Codex Alimentarius resolutions.

The D-G noted that globally, regulation is done in the interest and safety of the citizen. She pointed out that the EU for instance, restricted/banned the use of some agrochemicals on some crops or agricultural products due to safety concerns or lack of enough data and have made provision for alternatives that are readily available, affordable and accessible. These alternatives are not readily available in Nigeria for use.

She said the action was taken to safeguard a class of the population that consumes such crops, insisting that in such case it will be unscientific to do the same in Nigeria, where the class of crops in question are not grown here and the agrochemicals in question are not used on similar fresh crops in Nigeria. She further disclosed that the agrochemicals in question are still being produced in the EU and residue still exists in their fruits and vegetables.

”In line with the federal government agenda and investment in agriculture, the Agency wishes to encourage investors to consider investing in agricultural production so that creation of jobs and ability to feed ourselves as a nation without depending too much on the foreign exchange can be achieved” she said.

  ”It is noteworthy that a lot of regulatory activities have been carried out to ensure that all inputs regulated by NAFDAC required in the production of safe food are safe, efficacious, and of the right quality.

In reciprocating to this effort, she added that local production of food is highly encouraged stressing that NAFDAC, in the last four years, has reviewed her regulations, guidelines and strengthen collaboration with MDAs and stakeholders to ensure effective regulations.

 According to her, such collaborative effort has been recorded in agrochemicals regulation, adding that NAFDAC has reviewed the safety of all registered agrochemicals in Nigeria in consultation with relevant stakeholders, initiated four years’ phase-out plan for obsolete and some hazardous agrochemicals.

 ”Such phase-out plan is currently running for Paraquat, which will be phase-out in 2024 and Atrazine in 2025 while 100ml pack size of Dichlorvos (DDVP) is already banned” due to inappropriate use, she said. So far about 30 pesticides have been banned in Nigeria. The general public is advised to visit the NAFDAC website for detail of banned pesticides.