By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) says it is championing the passage of the National Food Safety and Quality Bill into law by the National Assembly because of its importance to the health and well-being of all Nigerians.

The Chief Operating Officer of NESG, Dr. Tayo Adulujo gave the explanation at the Nigerian Food and Feed Safety Transformation Dialogue organised by
the Group in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health, the Food & Agriculture Export Alliance (FAEA), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the University of Missouri (UoM), and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in Abuja.

According to him, the NESG and other critical stakeholders have comprehensively engaged the government institutions on the need for the passage of the Bill into law.

Speaking on the importance of the Bill while addressing journalists on the sidelines of the Dialogue, Adulujo said some of the foodborne infectious diseases would be reduced, if the Bill is passed into law by the National Assembly and assented to by Mr. President.

He said: “If this Bill is not passed, some of the food borne infectious diseases will remain very high. We must remember that in the last decade, we have seen an increase in the number of foodborne diseases such as Ebola outbreak. It was from the bush meat source.

“When we discuss swine fever, Lassa fever, we have been continuously pointed at bush meat. Without the passage of the Food Safety and Quality Bill, we are simply digging our national graves in the area of life expectancy.

“In a country of over 200 million people, and the life expectancy is just above 50, it tells you that we are missing the opportunities to save ourselves.

“If you look at the 2017 Disease-Burden in Nigeria, you will see that the 10 causes of diseases are diarrhoea and cholera, which can be food borne as elements of what is killing us. Therefore, it requires a response.

“Again, if the Bill is not passed into law, the cost of doing business remains high, because of multiple regulations, which Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) keep complaining about.”

While explaining further the importance of the Food Safety and Quality Bill, which has passed the second reading at the National Assembly, Adulujo said it would enable Nigeria to benefit from African Continental Free Trade Agreement(AfCFTA) with the potential of $2.3trillion of food and agricultural commodities trade within the African continent.

To ensure the passage of the Bill into law before the end of the present administration, he disclosed that there has been strong advocacy both at the National Assembly and the Presidency on the urgency of the passage of the Bill and subsequent assent by the President.

He explained that the two-day workshop was convened to resolve all pending matters among all critical stakeholders, adding that the workshop would also come up with implementation strategies at the workshop.

Also speaking, Nsikan Essien, Team Lead, National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable(NASSBER) at the NESG, assured that all relevant institutions saddled with the responsibility of ensuring food safety and quality would work in harmony in the implementation of the Bill, if passed into law.

Essien stressed that the passage of the Bill into law would enhance Nigeria’s food export as well as scale up Nigeria’s revenue generation.

Dr. Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health, pointed out that before the formulation of the bill, there was an overlap of functions among relevant MDAs, adding that the Bill would put an end to overlap and duplication of functions.

The Minister who was represented by Dr. John Atanda, a Director in the Ministry, said the bill would set standards and procedures on how to regulate food safety and quality in the country.

The NESG maintained that, “the major challenges facing the enhancement of food safety in the country include a lack of awareness of the socio-economic importance of food safety, paucity of data and information on the incidence of food-borne disease outbreaks, lack of understanding of food safety and quality standards as outlined in international agreements, inability to enforce compliance with international standards and global best practices, inadequate infrastructure and resources to support scientific risk analysis and upgrading of food safety regulatory systems, inefficient food supply chain and poor traceability system.

“There is therefore an urgent need to strengthen the existing food safety system at each enterprise level at the Federal, State, and LGAs platforms in order to develop a safe and reliable food supply chain.

“The need to re-align Nigeria’s food safety system to effectively address food safety concerns have now, more than ever, become evident.”