According to the federal government, within the last five years, at least 103 Nigerian products, which were exported to other countries, have been rejected for not reaching acceptable international quality standards.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, who made this disclosure in Abuja on Thursday, April 21, while unveiling the new office complex of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, called the high volume of rejected products unacceptable.
He put the ugly development down to a lack of accredited laboratories in the country, where products could be tested before being shipped abroad.
While drawing comparisons, he said while the rate of rejected products exported from Nigeria was over 103, countries like South Africa and Ghana had just six and seven rejected products respectively.
The minister said with the reforms carried out by the Goodluck Jonathan government within the past four years, Nigeria now had an internationally-accredited laboratory in Lagos, which would help to check the rising tide of substandard production.
In his words: “We all say we want to diversify the economy with a view to increasing our income from non oil products. But there is no way we can achieve this without having quality infrastructure such as the laboratory.
“For instance, we could not export yam to the United Kingdom because we do not have a laboratory to test it here. Those who export products in Nigeria take them to Ghana to test them and the credit goes to Ghana.
“In the last five years, Nigeria has more than 103 rejects. If you compare that to other African countries like South Africa and Ghana, who only have between six to seven rejects, ours is unacceptable.
“We are having these rejects because we did not have accredited laboratory in the country. However, we can confidently say we have addressed that challenge now.
“About two days ago, I commissioned a new internationally accredited laboratory in Lagos. It is first time ever that we will be having such an accredited laboratory with such scope, twelve scopes.”
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