The Federal Government of Nigeria has set up a special technical committee to end the perennial rejections of Nigerian non-oil export products in Europe, the Americas, and other parts of the world.
The Chairman of the Technical Committee on Export Rejects and Director, Commodity and Export Department of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Suleiman Adedayo Audu, said in Abuja that the committee would work hard to make recommendations on ending the rejection of Nigeria’s products.
He noted that the committee’s terms of reference were to identify reasons for the rejections and proffer solutions to them.
The Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, Dr. Ezra Yakusak, on his part, said the committee had a five-week mandate to identify gaps and proffer solutions to the problem.
He said the NEPC initiated the “Go Global, Go Certification” project to end the rejection of Nigerian products, adding that it was targeted at securing appropriate international certifications for products of Nigerian origin. He noted that about 50 SMEs had so far benefited from the program.
Nigerian products are often rejected in several parts of the world due to poor use of chemicals and the like. In 2015, a consignment of Nigerian beans was barred from entering Europe owing to the wrong use of chemicals. The ban imposed on Nigerian beans is yet to be lifted seven years after.
