NAFDAC warms of products undermining Nigeria’s global rating

Friday, November 28, 2025 - The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has cautioned operators and manufacturers within the Kano Free Trade Zone against sharp practices and manufacturing of substandard products capable of undermining Nigeria’s global rating.

The agency’s Coordinator in Kano, Kassim Ibrahim, made the call during a 2 – day investors/stakeholders meeting organized by the Kano Free Trade Zone with the theme: “Strengthening partnership for efficient service delivery in the Free Trade Zone.”

Ibrahim said the agency is currently rated Maturity Level 3 (ML3) by the World Health Organization and cannot withstand any unhealthy practices that could tamper with the hard earned reputation or track record.

He said failure of standards in products manufactured in the zone for domestic consumption or for export, does not just affect companies but undermines NAFDAC and Nigeria’s credibility in global markets.

The NAFDAC Coordinator emphasized the importance of strict compliance with safety, quality, and efficacy standards in food and drug production.

He stated: “NAFDAC is now the World Health Organization Global Benchmarking Tool, as rated Maturity Level 3, which we call for short, ML3. Before we achieved this status, there were a lot of processes involved.

”By the time you are sending, you are producing substandard products in the free trade zone, because you feel the product is not coming into the domestic market but you are exporting. Anything they find in the importing country that falls short of the standard, NAFDAC is indirectly or directly affected because you are carrying our registration number. So, it will affect our rating as a food and drug regulatory agency.

“So that is why we are encouraging the operators to ensure whatever they are marketing, whatever they are producing, whether it is for domestic consumption or for export, must be of standard in line with NAFDAC regulations and guidelines.

“So definitely our call to manufacturers, investors that are here in the free trade zone, is to keep to the rules and regulations or keeping to standard in order to help boost NAFDAC rating and the rating of Nigeria as a whole in our export”.

Ibrahim said plans are underway at the agency to execute unannounced inspections within the zone to strengthen surveillance and tackle sharp practices.

Earlier, the Managing Director, Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA, Dr. Olufemi Ogunyemi, said the Kano free trade zone has generated N18.8 billion as revenue in 10 months.

Ogunyemi who was represented by the Head, Kano Free Trade Zone, Richard Bassey, said the zone generated N1.8billion while the Customs within the zone generated N17billion, which marks a significant improvement when compared to the previous year.

He described the theme of the forum “Strengthening Partnerships for efficient service delivery in the Free Trade Zone” as apt and timely as it seeks to eliminate all operational lacunas and administrative barriers that hinders smooth and efficient operations of the Zone.