Promoting food safety in Nigeria to boost revenue generation

Funded by the European Union the forum opened a new vista of opportunities that could be tapped and developed through proper investment by the Federal Government and even the private sector to revive the country’s economy.

The forum was an eye-opener to many participants, operators, government officials and stakeholders that the present challenge in the foreign exchange market could be addressed if Nigeria was exporting enough goods and services to boost foreign exchange earnings.

Available statistics showed that in spite of the huge natural resources that agriculture poses to the nation’s economy; it only contributes 24 per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) due largely to poor funding and investment.

The forum, with the theme: “Examining the Interconnection of Food Safety, Public Health, Investment and Food Trade’’ was designed to enhance food safety and foster international business cooperation.

It discussed that agriculture could be another huge revenue earner for the country like oil if properly harnessed and funded by government and the private sector to energise the Small and Medium Enterprises.

Speaking at the forum, Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, restated the need for collaboration to safeguard the economic and public health of Nigerians with a view to achieving a healthy and virile nation.

“The issues of all-encompassing food safety and public health can no longer be treated with levity in Nigeria.

“It has, therefore, become necessary for us as a nation to take this matter very seriously as regards the nation’s food security and international standards as the benchmark for our agricultural commodities to attract global competitiveness.

“The plain truth is that the boom era of huge oil revenues has come to an end, and the only way out is agriculture.

“This will involve mass cultivation, quality assurance, self sufficiency and export targets in rapidly diversifying our economy for inclusive growth and sustainable developments,’’ he said.

Similarly, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the Minister of Science and Technology, represented by Gloria Elemo of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, identified challenges of food safety regulations in the country.

Onu said that there was the need to strengthen food safety in the country, insisting that lack of awareness for social importance of food safety and lack of coordination and synergy among the key players in the food safety system posed huge challenges to food safety in the country.

“Others include inadequate infrastructure and resources, inadequate financial investments, weak food control systems, obsolete food regulation systems as well as inability to enforce compliance to international standards.

“Also, lack of data and information on incidences of food borne disease outbreaks, uncoordinated response to food borne epidemics and insufficient food supply chain are identified challenges,’’ he said.

In his view, Mr Bernardo Calzadilla-Sarmiento, Director, Trade and Investment, UNIDO, said trade investment and promotion were key drivers for economic and inclusive growth.

He said concerted efforts from the private, public sectors and the academia were also required to ensure global food safety and economic growth.

He said that food safety was fundamental to public safety and required a gamut of collaboration from all sectors.

He noted that after the hosting of the international food safety conference in Vienna, stakeholders from the Nigerian food industry pushed for a replication in Nigeria.

He explained that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would require global investments far beyond the current levels of development financing.

However, some of the participants at the forum called for synergy among the various regulatory agencies to tackle the issue of fake products and enhance patronage of locally produced goods to promote economic growth and development.

Some of the recommendations in the forum included the need for the operators in the food industry to look less towards the banking industry for funding as there are other innovative means of funding such as crowd funding and venture capitalists.

The forum also recommended that there must be an efficient and effective system of information transfer between public and private sectors, collaboration, cooperation and communication among government, ministries, regulatory agencies, support net, industry, consumers, producers and research institutes.

Some of the participants at the forum were ministers, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), food analysts and many operators of Small and Medium Enterprises.