Adewole said it would also help strengthen institutional capacity for food safety and quality as well as improve information and communication system for food safety in Nigeria.

 

He said: “The relevance of the bill could actually be appreciated when one considers some happenings in the past when food export from Nigeria was banned in Europe. We believe that what is required is for us to strengthen institutional framework that will enable various agencies of government to work together.

 

“Part of the institutional framework in the bill is for us to set up Food Safety Council that will be chaired by the Vice President as well as an inter-ministerial committee that will handle food management as well as food safety in Nigeria. This will comprise ministers of claimant departments, agriculture, environment, science and industry, trade and investment and so on and so forth together with several agencies.”

 

The minister said the council also approved a Draft National Tobacco Control Regulation that would enable the government to implement the National Tobacco Control Act.

 

“The framework contains sections that have to do with general provisions of regulations like licensing, approvals, who does what, penalties and so on and so forth. And more importantly to also enable us to work closely with the state.

 

“We believe that once this is approved by the National Assembly, we will start seeing a lot of changes, the effective ban on smoke areas in the country and also you will notice different warning labels on tobacco product in Nigeria,” he said.

 

 

 

Source: Pharmatimes