The National Quality Council (NQC) has highlighted the importance of raising awareness among stakeholders to reduce the high cases of Nigerian product rejections in the international market.
Speaking in Abuja on Thursday, the Chairman of NQC, Osita Aboloma, Esq., emphasised that product certification agencies possess testing capacities that the public is often unaware of existing in Nigeria.
He explained the necessity for the country to effectively utilise such equipment, especially as the focus has shifted to the non-oil sector.
“We are talking about growing the Nigerian economy and leveraging the non-oil sector, which has immense potential, particularly focusing on agricultural products.
“Now, the country’s exports face a high level of product rejection in the international market. Most times, it’s because the exporter does not know where to go for the certification of a particular product.
“For instance, women in Benue State harvest yams and wish to export this product to Europe.
Upon reaching the airport, they are stopped from taking this product outside the country because the yams do not meet the required standard for accreditation.”
He further explained that all these instances occur “because the agencies that certify them are not accredited to do so.
“So, it is not about the yam. The product has all the quality needed to be exported, but certification becomes a hindrance,” Aboloma stated.
The Chairman emphasised that when such incidents happen, “the exporter will quietly move the product to a nearby country like Ghana and export from there, labelling the yams to have originated from Ghana.”
He further stated that this situation calls for sensitisation as if only the exporters knew that SON had the accreditation and the facility to do the testing, it would save costs and increase the exporter’s confidence.
Aboloma lamented that agencies like SON have certification capacities that are not being utilized by exporters, primarily because they are not aware.
“When you take your products outside the country and they are rejected, you incur a loss, and the country also suffers a loss.
“To develop an inclusive economy in the non-oil sector, we must explore our capacities to identify shortcomings and make holistic adjustments,” he noted.
The National Quality Council (NQC) was established in 2022 to implement the Nigerian National Quality Policy (NNQP). SON, NAFDAC, and other certification bodies are part of the Council’s Board.
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