Nume Ekeghe
The activities of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) have been questioned by the joint committees on Healthcare Services, Drugs and Narcotics following the agency’s admission that sub-standard tomato pastes are in circulation.
These finding were revealed at a public hearing at the National Assembly recently.
The Joint Committees on Healthcare Services, Drugs and Narcotics chaired by Chike John Okafor, a member representing (APC, Imo) and Eucharia Azodo (PDP, Anambra) during the hearing on the allegations of the importation of substandard, fake and cancer-causing tomato paste, gathered from various stakeholders that there exist substandard imported tomato pastes in Nigeria, which should be banned completely.
In his presentation, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Erisco Foods Limited, Eric Umeofia, said based on a survey conducted by NAFDAC last year, 91 per cent of imported tomato pastes from China were sub-standard and dangerous to the health of Nigerians.
He said despite the recommendation by the Food Safety Analysis and Nutrition Directorate of NAFDAC to mop up all the fake tomato pastes and immediately ban their importation, NAFDAC under its former director general Paul Orrhi and the current acting DG has “refused to save Nigerians from the scourge of fake tomato pastes.”
He said: “Rather Dr. Paul Orhii chose to threaten to close our factory down for exposing them and the current acting NAFDAC Director General followed his predecessor’s position by supporting more substandard tomato paste importers to continue dump in Nigeria till we are closed down.
He said: “We are confident that as true representatives of the Nigerian people, you will compel NAFDAC and other agencies to do their job properly. Meanwhile all our attempt to duly inform Nigerians of the existence of this dangerous brands of tomato pastes were frustrated by NAFDAC as they refused to approve our advertisements even after we had adhered to all their suggested amendments.”
He also alleged that the country lost billions of naira as a result of the waivers granted some of the importers of sub-standard tomato pastes, which he said should be recovered by the government.
“In our own view, asking the same importers that know the good and standard quality of tomato paste but insisted on importing substandard tomato paste into Nigeria to bring their product samples for analysis is like putting and armed robber on notice before police operation as they will run away and change strategy to rub in more supplicated way after police must have gone back to their base.
“So we call on this Honourable House, that Nigerians have confidence in, to mandate NAFDAC to complete their work by stopping the registration and importation of substandard tomato paste into Nigeria without further delay in line with their constitutional duty, for the interest of Nigerian people and economy,” he said.
He added that “the continuous importation of fake tomato paste is killing our local tomato producing factories that are being forced to fold up.
“This invariably has resulted to massive loss of jobs and increasing the rate of unemployment problems in Nigeria. Many indigenous tomato paste factories have been forced to shut down their factories… If we are not vigilant all factories will soon be shut down to clear the way for the deadly imported tomato pastes. We can only imagine the negative impact in our forex,” he said.
He therefore prayed that the House should initiate a law or motion for the immediate suspension of all tomato importation into Nigeria based on substandard, saying it is the only solution that will ensure backward integration into tomato plantations and processing.
In his presentation, the Managing Director of Dangote Tomato Processing Factory, Abdulkarim Kaita, said they visited some tomato paste making industries in China and that they were shocked to see that bulk tomato concentrate that expired were mixed with good ones to be taken to Nigeria.
He wondered why NAFDAC failed to act on its own report since last year even as it did not ban anybody, adding that the China factories have certain low standard for Nigeria, which they bombard the country with.
He said if government did not step in to curb the menace of substandard tomato pastes in the Nigerian markets, there would be serious health and economic problems in the near future.
Also, the MD/CEO of Savannah Integrated Farms, Abdullahi Ringim, said although he was not sure if imported tomato pastes causes cancer, he was certain that are were sub-standard tomato pastes in Nigeria.
In his presentation, the representative of NAFDAC DG, Prof Samson Babatunde Adebayo, who is the agency’s director of planning, research and statistics, dismissed all the claims made by the stakeholders, saying the organisation has not been compromised by any importer of tomato paste.
He said the NAFDAC report in question did not mention that tomato pastes kill people or cause cancer, adding that when they got the information that some tomato pastes in the Nigerian markets were substandard, they carried out an analysis in Lagos.
Emirates Repays $1.1 Billion Bonds
Emirates Airline has announced its repayment of a bullet bond in full for the value of $1 billion (AED 3.673 billion) on its maturity date of 8 June 2016.
The $1 billion bullet bond was raised in 2011 to address Emirates’ working capital requirements. The airline explained that it would also be repaying a bond totalling SGD 150 million later this month, which was originally raised in 2006. The airline is repaying both bonds from its own cash resources, reflecting its robust financial position.
Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, was quoted in a statement to have explained: “The repayment of these bonds illustrates Emirates’ continued ability to access international funding and garner support from financial markets and institutions.
“Emirates has a solid track record of meeting its financial commitments, underpinned by the airline’s overall financial strength. Tapping into our own cash reserves to repay these bonds is reflective of our strong financial position and prudent approach to liquidity.”
By the end of June 2016, Emirates will have repaid six bonds/sukuks (Islamic bonds) in full over the course of the last five years, totalling $2.84 billion (AED 10.4 billion).
Ahmed continued: “We will continue to work with the international financial community to deliver diverse, innovative sources of funding within an evenly spread financing portfolio for our business needs. Our strong business model and long-term financing strategy will position Emirates to unlock further growth with the delivery of 36 aircraft this financial year. ”