In line with the diversification effort of the present administration, Aisha Abubakar, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment has said that the Federal Government haven followed the required standards as specified by the European Union and other key global bodies, is ready to commence exports of goods earlier rejected for exports by the EU bodies.
Aisha said, the Federal Government is determined to see its export products gracing the European Markets and other advanced countries, as an avenue to strengthen the naira, grow the economy and create wealth for the Nigerian entrepreneurs and those in export value chain.
Aisha made the disclosure during the fourth African day of Standardisation held in Abuja today.
Some of the European Union export rejects from Nigeria include Sesame seeds, Melon seeds, dried fish, meat, Peanut, chips and Palm oil. The reasons given for rejecting them include the inability of exporters to adhere to global standards, poor packaging, and high level of chemicals.
According to European Food Safety Authority beans is expected to have a maximum residue limit of 0.01mg/kg but the ones from Nigeria contain between 0.03mg and 4.6mg/kg of dichlorvos pesticides.
Meanwhile, the Acting director general of standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Paul Angya buttressing the Minister’s earlier stance on Nigeria’s preparedness to get EU certification on export rejects said: SON has made tremendous efforts in ensuring the EU Ban is lifted. This has included setting up standards, establishing codes of practices on Priority products of exports from Nigeria”
We have established standards on code of practices monitoring our farmers from planting, harvesting, packaging and exporting. For instance, what kind of soil are you planting these products on, what is the soil composition, what kind of seedlings, what kind of pesticides are you using, how are you harvesting and how are you packaging, how are you labeling, how are you storing for exports. These are some of the key issues we are looking at the Acting DG informed BusinessDay on the sidelines of the event.
We have developed code of practice working with relevant bodies: the exporters and the All farmers Association of Nigeria to ensure we all comply with the regulatory standards as required globally. We have also undertaken training for both our local producers, farmers and other key bodies.
