The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has said that the agency has not constituted a wedge to the growth and development of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.
Rather, Adeyeye said that NAFDAC has and would continue to render its unflinching support to enable them to act as a catalyst to economic rejuvenation.
Adeyeye, who was reacting to the allegation that MSME operators are finding it difficult to get the required certification for NAFDAC registration
in a statement, said the average MSME entrepreneur would testify that the relationship between them and the Agency has tremendously improved and become very cordial in the recent past.
The statement by NAFDAC Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, on Sunday, said MSMEs contribute up to 45 per cent of total employment and up to 33 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in emerging economies.
According to Adeyeye, a recent review of a 2017 survey on MSMEs revealed that in Nigeria, there were 41.4 million MSMEs and that about 99 per cent belonged to the micro sub-sector.
She said: “MSMEs are the bedrock of Nigeria’s industrialization and inclusive economic development; and the most important component of industrialization as set out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the federal government.”
She stated that the significance of MSMEs in the nation’s economy cannot, therefore, be over-emphasized.
Adeyeye further explained that the NAFDAC timeline for the processing of products for registration is 90 days, adding that there are consistent efforts to ensuring that timelines are met.
She listed the measures aimed at improving on delivery timelines to include deployment of a robust e-registration platform called NAFDAC Product Administration and Monitoring System (NAPAMS), which has the capacity for monitoring and assessment of timelines.
However, she said that timely responses to issues raised with applications are required, adding that some of the compliance issues that are frequently observed range from labelling lapses, inadequate documentation, increased product analysis failure rate and product rejects, especially with highly sensitive products like detection of cyanide in cassava-related products.
