BoI partners NAFDAC to ensure manufacturers meet standards

…bank directs focus to reviving ailing industries in 2017

The Bank of Industry (BoI) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) have agreed to work together to ensure that products from factories meet acceptable standards.

At the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) held weekend in Lagos, Waheed Olagunju, acting managing director/CEO of BoI, said the collaboration with NAFDAC will be in the area of manufacturing, food, drugs and other regulated products.

Olagunju said NAFDAC is the statutory custodian for these quality requirements which entrepreneurs need to meet.

He said as part of the MoU, NAFDAC will allow BoI access to their data base to know Nigerian companies in the country that have been accredited by the organisation. He further saidf  that it is only those that meet NAFDAC requirements that can access the bank’s credit.

“Those who, for instance, produce food must receive NAFDAC certification and endorsement before they can access credit. The importance of this is that if you don’t have NAFDAC numbers, you cannot sell your products in the open market,” he said.

“And where you can’t sell, your business model will become defective and your business plan will not materialise. And unless you are able to establish that you can sell your products when they are produced, you will not be able to get our facilities, because it is only when you sell that the cash flow projections on which the loan is predicated can be realised. For us, it’s important for our customers to be accredited by NAFDAC,” he stated.

He added that the bank is ready to work with NAFDAC’s development partners to realise this goal, explaining that the bank will concentrate on reviving existing ailing firms in 2017 as their turn-around time is shorter.

Also speaking, Yetunde Oni, acting DG of NAFDAC, said while BoI is processing the machinery and equipment needs of the regulated industry and at the same time rendering technical support to NAFDAC, NAFDAC is furnishing BoI with information necessary for decision-making and

“Before a product can be granted a marketing authorisation, you must have a full proof that the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) of that particular facility is satisfactory. We sample the products, send to our lab, analyse and ensure we have satisfactory lab report. We review the documents submitted by the organisation and then have our meeting before granting the NAFDAC number. It’s not only the NAFDAC number that you look out for. You also look at the product name, company name, location of the manufacturer, the best before, expiry date, the batch no and then the NAFDAC . All of these must be there before you can be sure that the product is NAFDAC certified,” she said.