- EU’s proposed lifting of ban soul-lifting
The prospect of lifting of the suspension by the European Union (EU) Safety Authority of some Nigerian agricultural products, including beans, must be one of the most heart-warming news in a country mired in the last few weeks by very depressing news. From allegations of sexual impropriety of the COZA pastor, to the negativity and divisive vibes from the Ruga policy to the physical assault of a nursing mother by a Senator Elisha Abbo from Adamawa State, this definitely seems a much desired elixir.
The EU had in 2015 banned some agricultural products due to some industry aberrations, like Nigerian beans export being found to have between 0.03mg per kilogram to 4.6mg/kg of dichlovos pesticide as against the globally acceptable maximum of 0.1mg/kg. The somewhat puerile defence of the then National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) that the beans in question was allegedly smuggled out of the country did nothing to stop the ban.
The economic losses, the diplomatic loss of credibility as regards agricultural products from Nigeria are losses that could have been prevented with just due diligence by all those involved in the production, storage, inspection and export of Nigeria’s agricultural products with serious effects on the foreign exchange inflow to the economy.
Shockingly too, barely two years after the EU ban, in 2017, the stories of the discovery of rotten yams by Nigeria hit the food export market. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe, then explained it away as due to the distance between Nigeria and the receiving countries. Not many bought into that argument.
While we commend the Federal Government for working with the EU towards lifting the ban, we want the government to have the charity begin or replicated at home first. The banning of the agricultural products by the EU was a way of protecting the human beings or animals that might be endangered by consuming those products that are considered injurious to health. This they could do because they care deeply for lives. The question is, who tests and regulates the agricultural products consumed at home?
Recently, some undercover reporters made viral videos of some farmers using the very toxic and now suicidal chemical, Sniper in preserving beans in some parts of the country. On being questioned, the farmers claimed they had no option than to use the chemical which, according to them, was very effective. The question is how come those agencies of government paid to regulate such things did not educate the mostly illiterate farmers and traders or inform the public of their findings, if tany?
In the recent past, there have been increasing cases of deaths allegedly after the consumption of some beans products. If the government’s agencies are not aware or are and never investigated or took any action, then they must have failed the people. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development , Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), NAFDAC, Standards Organizations of Nigeria (SON) and, Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS) must not only work at resolving the EU ban but must be seen to be more proactive in protecting the citizens of Nigeria.
We urge all the federal agencies concerned with the agricultural sector to be more patriotic and diligent in their duties because the sector is not only more sustaining of the population in terms of food production, it is a very viable and lucrative foreign exchange earner, given the volatility in the international oil market. The agricultural sector is a huge job provider for a country with high illiteracy level and a double digit unemployment market.
The agricultural, inspection and standardisation agencies must take the blame for the EU ban and the rotten yam incidents. The government must thoroughly investigate the processes that led to the ban. Waiving the ban off on the eve of the lifting of same would not provide any deterrent to a future display of negligence. To have put Nigeria on the global export map negatively deserves a thorough investigation and appropriate punishment meted to those whose acts of negligence resulted in the ban in the first place. That is the way to correct a systemic dysfunction and protect the people, both at home and abroad, and also prevent a recurrence
