NAFDAC to register MSMEs in Nasarawa State

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control says it will register more Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Nasarawa State.
Micheal Attah, Nasarawa State Coordinator of NAFDAC, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lafia on Monday.
Attah said that the increased interest displayed by the MSMEs was due to measures recently introduced by NAFDAC to enhance the ease of doing business and encourage enterprises whose products were regulated by the agency.
He said that NAFDAC adopted the measures because of the vital role MSMEs played in stimulating the Nigerian economy and providing jobs for unemployed youths across the country.
According to Attah, in the past, the number of MSMEs that visited NAFDAC office to register was between 10 and 15, but from January 2018, the agency in the state had recorded about 32 owners of MSMEs who indicated to register.
Attah lauded the leadership of the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, for enforcing the new measures so as to attract more MSMEs, who in the past perceived the agency’s registration process as cumbersome.
He said: “MSMEs play vital roles in the economic development of Nigeria and are known to be the main engine of economic growth. The importance of MSMEs to our economy cannot be over-emphasised.
“That is why NAFDAC has created an enabling environment for the MSMEs to register easily and thrive.
“Before, our standard is four rooms to manufacture anything but now we have reduced it to three rooms to start something but there are some minimum standards they have to meet.’’
Attah recalled other new measures introduced by NAFDAC aimed at encouraging MSMEs to include 50 per cent reduction in cost of registration of products for companies with five or fewer employees and reduction in registration timeline to 60 days, among others.
He said: “All these we are doing will encourage enterprises to come up with products so that they can be engaged and absorb other graduates that might be looking for work.
“The effort will also reduce the crime rate in the country.
“I can confirm to you that we had about 32 products given approval within a month in Nasarawa State.
“Before now, because we have all these long protocols, we usually hardly get up to 10. The recent increase in number is due to the strategy put in place by NAFDAC.’’
Attah urged other enterprises, who were still skeptical about the registration process to visit NAFDAC offices in Lafia and Karu Local Government Areas of the state to get educated to take advantage of the new measures introduced by the agency and register their products.
He said: “Another good news is that before now we process these documents and get the products analysed in the laboratory. Then it goes to our zone where there will be screening again before they now take it to Lagos.
“Lagos has a unit that will screen the documents before the registration committee will finally screen and give number but now the process has been decentralised.
“We in the zone can now register it and the number will come out within 60 days.”