From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has granted product renewal waiver to small business operators to enable them act as catalyst for Nigeria’s economic transformation.

Its Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, announced the waiver at a meeting with operators of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Lagos.

She said NAFDAC would continue to drive collaboration and understanding between MSME operators and regulatory authorities with a view to empowering them in terms of the next step for their businesses.

“We remain committed to meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the business community especially small businesses. The gains and positive impact of subjecting their processes and products to regulatory scrutiny are immense.”

Adeyeye said MSMEs drive the Nigerian economy, noting that the country successfully came out of recession few years ago due to the contributions of MSME.

“They were the magic wand that sustained the economy during the turbulent times. However, three of our mandate, notably, food, packaged water, and cosmetics and even some chemicals, herbals are under MSMEs, hence we do not take MSMEs matter lightly,”  she said.

Adeyeye suggested that operators of MSMEs should always focus on one product that is well accepted by consumers, rather than manufacturing many products at the same time, with none doing well in the market. 

“Don’t make five products at a time, please. Focus on one or two, and put all your efforts there to make it better and globally competitive. You should also dream big, by entering the global market with your products,” she said.

She emphasized the commercial benefits and opportunities that abound for products that have been subjected to regulatory scrutiny, describing them as immense, and one of such is the possibility of exporting such goods.

The NAFDAC boss disclosed that the agency was in discussion with the United Kingdom Department of Business and Trade to build bilateral relationship whereby Nigerian products exported to the United Kingdom would be of quality, having been registered and certified by NAFDAC.