General
NAFDAC Laments Illegal Export of Nigeria’s Agric Products to Europe
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs Mojisola Adeyeye, has said about 82 per cent of Nigeria’s agricultural products exported illegally were seized by European Union countries.
The NAFDAC head said this as she lamented the alarming rate of rejections of food exports from Nigeria due to the non-involvement of the agency in the screening and certification of such goods.
She said that agricultural commodities that Nigeria exported within the first nine months of 2022 generated N427.6 billion ($1.02 billion).
However, Mrs Adeyeye said there was more that could be done for the country to attain proper exporting status in agriculture and called on exporters to allow the appropriate authorities to do their jobs.
She said NAFDACS’s concern came just as pre-shipment inspection agents pledged to henceforth collaborate with regulatory agencies to eliminate the rejection of Nigerian food exports through a unified exportation procedure.
This will help find lasting solutions to the challenge of rejecting non-oil export from the country, the NAFDAC DG said.
She said the agency decided to once again extend hands of collaboration to critical stakeholders in the nation’s ports, which spurred the consultative meeting with pre-shipment inspection agents held last Friday in Lagos.
A statement signed by the NAFDAC’s Resident Media Consultant, Mr Sayo Akintola, quoted Mrs Adeyeye as having expressed worry that “a competent authority on food safety matter with all her acclaimed global accreditation in food safety testing could be totally blanked out in the listed requirements for issuance of Clean Certificate of Inspection (CCI) by the Pre-shipment Inspection Agents.
“No wonder there are high volumes of reject from Nigeria as the NAFDAC regulated products were not tested nor production processes validated for compliance before export.”
Mrs Adeyeye was represented by the Director of Port Inspection Directorate (PID), who also heads the Office of Trade and International Relations (OTIR), Mrs Abimbola Adegboye.
She pointed out that the meeting was aimed at building effective collaboration with NAFDAC to complement its robust regulatory policies geared toward understanding the NAFDAC export processes, collaboration to safeguard a unified exportation procedure and zero rejects of Nigeria export products.
The NAFDAC boss noted that the agency acknowledges the importance of having broader and deeper interactions and collaborations with sister agencies such as the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), etc.
Mrs Adeyeye also emphasised the position of export as a key factor in every country’s economy, adding that the reason for regulation of the sector was to ensure that products that leave a country’s shores were of good quality, safe and meet international best practices, among others.
“For Nigeria, trade is critical to the national economic makeup”, adding that in 2021, “Nigeria exported $57.7 billion of goods, making it the world’s 52nd most exporting country.”
The DG NAFDAC listed reasons for export rejection to include technical barrier issues, defective packaging and inadequate labelling, non-documentation, unauthorised transition, illegal importation and non-compliance to destination markets standards.
She said authorities of the European Union would always reject consignments containing food that does not comply with EU maximum residue limits (MRLs) for Vet Medicine and Pesticides and maximum limits (MLs) for Contaminants in foods.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, has announced that Nigeria will launch a new alphanumeric postcode system on October 1, 2026, with every home expected to have a unique postcode.
Mr Tijani disclosed the development in a video post on X, describing the new system as a more precise and digitally oriented approach to addressing locations across the country.
He said the initiative would mark a significant shift in Nigeria’s postal addressing system by assigning unique postcodes to individual homes.
The initiative marks a major step in Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda. By replacing the outdated numeric-only system, the alphanumeric codes provide a more flexible and scalable framework that can accommodate the country’s rapid urban growth and diverse settlement patterns.
For emphasis, an alphanumeric postcode system is a postal indexing system that uses a combination of both letters (alpha) and numbers (numeric), along with spaces or punctuation, to identify specific geographic locations, streets, or individual buildings for mail delivery.
Unlike purely numeric postcode systems (such as the 5-digit US ZIP Code or 5-digit codes used in some European countries), alphanumeric codes offer a much higher number of unique combinations using fewer total characters. This flexibility allows postal authorities to pinpoint locations with incredible precision, often down to a single side of a street or a specific large building.
“On October 1st 2026 Nigeria’s new Alphanumeric Postcode System goes live,” Mr Tijani said.
“For the first time, every home will be assigned a unique postcode that’s simple, precise and built for a digital future,” he added.
The minister urged Nigerians to prepare to generate their individual postcodes ahead of the launch.
The new system is expected to strengthen Nigeria’s digital addressing infrastructure and improve the identification and location of homes and properties for postal and other location-based services.
The initiative is being implemented in collaboration with the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) as part of broader efforts to modernise the country’s addressing and digital infrastructure.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has been directed to give an account to Nigerians on how the current government has fared since its inception on May 29, 2023.
This directive was given by President Bola Tinubu in a message posted on his verified social media handles on Wednesday.
This coincides with the commencement of campaigns for the 2027 presidential election scheduled for January 16.
According to the timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), candidates seeking to become the country’s president are eligible to kick off their campaigns from today, Wednesday, August 19, 2026.
In his message today, Mr Tinubu said, “When we began this journey of reform in 2023, I promised that the difficult decisions we were making would serve the purpose of building an economy that works better for you and a country that is stronger for our children.
“Today, your government presents The Reforms Scorecard. It sets out what our reforms have achieved, what they have cost us, and the greater costs and harms we have prevented by acting when we did.
“I have therefore directed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, to give an account to Nigerians, to explain the numbers, the choices we have made, the progress recorded, and the work that remains.
“You deserve to see the numbers. You deserve to know what has changed and what these reforms mean for you, your family, your business and our country.
“This is your government. This is your country. This is our account to you.”
Shortly after he took the oath of office over three years ago, President Tinubu declared that subsidies on petroleum products were gone. He later approved foreign exchange (FX) reforms, which devalued the Nigerian Naira, shooting from about N800 per Dollar to nearly N2,000 per Dollar. However, it is currently slightly above N1,340 per Dollar in the official market.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and the Nigerian Agip Exploration (NAE) Limited are advancing discussions on the development of deepwater assets estimated to hold 500 million barrels of oil reserves.
The development followed a meeting between the chief executive of the state oil company, Mr Bayo Ojulari, and Agip’s Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Maurizio Pinna, in Abuja.
The talks focused on ongoing work on deepwater acreage jointly held by NNPC, NAE and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) as well as plans to bring the associated resources into production.
According to NNPC, the acreage comprises the Zabazaba and Etan deepwater fields, with estimated reserves of about 500 million barrels.
The fields are located in Nigeria’s deepwater terrain and are considered significant to the country’s efforts to expand its upstream oil production base, particularly as operators seek to advance projects capable of delivering additional barrels over the medium to long term.
While details of the expected production timeline were not disclosed, the meeting underscores renewed industry focus on unlocking Nigeria’s deepwater resources and growing crude oil production.
The acreage comprises licences converted from OPL 245 and is operated by NAE in partnership with NNPC Limited and SNEPCo.
Mr Ojulari and Mr Pinna also reviewed the work currently underway on the assets and the expected production outlook, with the discussions centred on advancing deepwater development.
The engagement comes amid renewed efforts to attract investment into Nigeria’s offshore petroleum resources and increase national oil production.
