Agriculture
CELESTINE Okanya, Director-General, Nigeria National Accreditation Service (NiNAS), says Nigerian agricultural products being packaged for export must meet the standard of international market.
Okanya spoke on the sidelines of ENABLE Project, laboratory accreditation and business to business programme organised by Large Scale Food Fortification (LSFF) on Thursday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ENABLE Project means “Expanding Nutrition Access by Building Capacity, Linking Initiatives and Enhancing Policy”.
Okanya said that Nigeria’s accreditation landscape was capable of boosting the nation’s economy when Nigerians start to produce conformity assessment packaged products for local and international market acceptability.
He said the laboratories, certification and inspection bodies providing conformity assessment must also subject their products to accreditation for global acceptance.
According to him, accreditation is essential for local and international acceptance of Nigerian products at a stage when the nation is interested in diversifying its economy to embrace agriculture for mass production.
“If you look at our economy, we are struggling now because we have depended on oil for a long time, we should know that the way forward is to diversify the economy.
“We should be able to package our agricultural products where we have capacity for export and manufacture things that we can export to African countries or other countries.
“But for us to be able to do that, we need to meet the standard of the international market, and that is where NiNAS accreditation services comes in to meet standards.
“Products certified by NiNAS are made to conform to the international standard, so as to meet global acceptance,” he said.
Okanya said NiNAS had been committed to improving safety and economic growth of the nation through accreditation over the years.
According to him, accreditation will make Nigerian manufacturers to compete favourably in the international market, thereby boosting the nation’s economy.
Okanya commended the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the Large Scale Food Fortification (LSFF) for their contributions toward improving the nation’s economy through their food fortification programmes.
NAN
-Oct 31, 2019 @19:56 GMT |
Tags: Nigerian agricultural products must meet international market standard says NiNAS DG
