Indigenous tomato production firms have accused the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of aiding the importation of fake and substandard tomato paste into the country.
The firms described NAFDAC as “a compromised agency which no longer enforces regulations.”
The accusations were made at a public hearing conducted by the joint House of Representatives committees on healthcare services, drugs and narcotics in Abuja.
The chairman of Erisco Foods, Eric Umeafia, at the hearing, called NAFDAC “a cash and carry regulator.”
He further alleged that NAFDAC always issued threats to local tomato production firms anytime a complaint over such illegality was lodged at NAFDAC.
The managing director of Dangote tomato pastry, Abdulkarim Kaita, supported the allegations.
Prof. Samson Adebayo, who spoke for NAFDAC at the hearing, debunked the claims, advising the hearing committee to caution the Erisco boss for making “unsubstantiated allegations capable of chasing foreign investors out of Nigeria’.