By Angela Onwuzoo
After series of engagement with stakeholders in the pharmaceutical, food and allied Industries, the Governing Council of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, has suspended implementation of its new tariffs on the agency’s regulated products.
The decision, according to a statement signed by the agency’s Director of Public Affairs, Dr Abubakar Jimoh, became necessary following the agitations against the new tariffs.
The implementation was expected to have commenced on June 1, but did not go down well with some stakeholders who resisted it, the agency explained.
The Chairman of NAFDAC Governing Council, Hon. Inuwa Abdul-Kadir, in the statement, said the council after a ‘marathon stakeholders’ forum, resolved that all NAFDAC stakeholders affected by the new tariffs will henceforth revert to payment of the old tariffs until further notice.
Assuring that the status quo remains, Abdul-Kadir noted that the agency will continue to dialogue with all the concerned stakeholders on the tariff review and other regulatory issues.
The Chairman revealed that the council had considered substantially, the inputs of the stakeholders in arriving at a new tariff regime which will soon be released by the agency after doing all the needful including sensitising the public before it becomes effective.
According to him, the suspension of the new tariffs was borne out of NAFDAC’s avowed commitment to the promotion of the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the country.
“The need to carry along our stakeholders in decision making is in line with global best practices. NAFDAC will continue to promote the manufacture, exportation and importation of good quality products.
“We need to promote local manufacture of regulated products as part of Federal Government’s concerted efforts to create jobs and increase foreign exchange earnings by our dear nation. Nigeria has potential of producing pharmaceutical products for the domestic consumption and export to West African countries”, he explained.
The Chairman, who was one-time Minister of Youths, stressed the need for NAFDAC to procure new laboratory equipment, operational vehicles and other facilities to enable it render quality and efficient regulatory services, monitor and carry out enforcement activities towards safeguarding the health of the nation.
Abdul-Kadir said the agency will ultimately evolve separate tariffs for the over 35 million MSME operators dealing on NAFDAC regulated products while also ensuring that they adhere strictly to extant regulations without compromise.
The emergency council meeting was preceded by a stakeholders forum held in Lagos which was attended by captains of industry, representatives of various sectoral groups such as Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Group of MAN, Association of Pharmaceutical Importers of Nigeria, Indian pharmaceutical Importers, National Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, civil society organisation and the media.
