Government UNIDO move to end rejection of Nigerian products at global markets

FG, UNIDO move to end rejection of Nigerian products at global markets

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Following the recent rejection of some Nigerian commodities at the global export market, the Federal Government and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) have completed work on a national quality policy to forestall such embarrassment in future.

A key provision of the policy, which is currently before the Federal Executive Council (FEC), is the establishment of National Quality Council.This revelation came to the fore yesterday during a meeting between the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnya Onu and the UNIDO National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) Working Group in Abuja.

The United Nations (UN) agency noted that the NQI project, which it is championing, would ensure quality infrastructure in Nigeria.Consultant to the project, Prof. Uzoma Abimbola, who spoke for the team, stressed that the initiative was funded by the European Union to the tune of 12 million Euros.

“Presently, we don’t have quality infrastructure that is recognised international and that is why we have a lot of rejects of our exports. The latest is the rejection of beans produced in Nigeria. If you have been following media reports, there were notifications that were sent to Nigeria. About 50 notifications were sent but never heard where it should have been heard.

“The problem is still there and the question is why? The truth about this is that we don’t have a national notification authority but then the dissemination of that information is lacking. There is no structure in place. This is part of what the office of technical regulations will do.

“The office of technical regulations would work under the National Quality Council. The council is going to be in place with the national quality policy. As I am talking now, the national quality policy is waiting for ratification by FEC,” Abimbola stated.

Meanwhile, Onu has stressed that previous efforts to diversify the nation’s economy failed because the development of science and technology was not given adequate attention.

The minister, who spoke yesterday in Abuja when he received the Argentine Ambassador to Nigeria, Gustavo Alejando Dzugals, said innovation and improvement on existing technology remain a sure way of growing the economy.

“The Ministry of Science and Technology plays very import role in achieving these objectives.”We are determined here to make very important contributions to ensuring that these objectives are realised,” he added.

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