NAFDAC DG: Nigerians Are Ignorant, Many Don’t Read

The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has described poor reading habits and limited understanding of product instructions as some of the factors contributing to food safety challenges in Nigeria.

2027: Middle-Aged Voters Dominate Nigeria’s 103m Voter Register — INEC

Adeyeye made the remarks during an appearance on BusinessDay TV while explaining the responsibilities of NAFDAC and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in regulating food and agricultural chemicals. She said many Nigerians do not understand the different roles played by government agencies in ensuring food safety from the farm to the consumer.

“First of all, we are ignorant in this country. We are very ignorant. We don’t read. We don’t understand,” Adeyeye said.

She explained that NAFDAC’s mandate primarily covers processed and semi-processed foods, while the Ministry of Agriculture has the primary responsibility for fresh agricultural produce such as oranges and other fruits sold in markets.

“NAFDAC’s mandate is for processed or semi-processed foods. So the oranges you buy in the market, we don’t control the oranges you buy in the market,” she said.

Adeyeye, however, noted that NAFDAC regulates pesticides and has a responsibility to educate farmers on their proper use, including the recommended quantities, timing of application and the appropriate interval between pesticide application and harvesting.

She attributed some cases of pesticide misuse to inadequate understanding of instructions on chemical labels, noting that some farmers may wrongly assume that applying larger quantities would produce better results.

The NAFDAC boss cited an estimated 56 per cent illiteracy rate as a challenge to effective communication of pesticide safety instructions, stressing that the agency could not independently reach the millions of farmers across Nigeria.

“But we cannot go to one million farmers in Nigeria, I don’t know how many millions we have. NAFDAC cannot do that. It is the Ministry of Agriculture that should be doing that,” she said.

Adeyeye said NAFDAC’s Veterinary Medicine and Allied Products Directorate trains farmers and other stakeholders on the safe use of pesticides, while calling for stronger collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to improve food safety and reduce chemical misuse.