Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service says most agro-products seized by the EU are illegal exports

NIGERIA Agricultural Quarantine Service (Naqs) officials have revealed that as much as 80% of the Nigerian agro-products seized by European Union (EU) member nations as they seek to be shipped into the community are exported illegally.

Having some of the most stringent foods safety regulations in the world, the EU has strict guidelines when it comes to what can be imported. A lot of Nigerian agricultural products get seized by EU officials and destroyed because they breach guidelines such as having high pesticide residues or aflatoxin levels.

Naqs is a regulatory agency under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development that harmonises plants, veterinary and aquatic resources quarantine in Nigeria. It explained that most of the products seized by EU officials were actually prohibited for export by the government but people moved the items out of the country illegally without clearance..

Vincent Isegbe, the Naqs director-general, explained that the interception of agricultural exports from Nigeria by EU countries was basically due to the absence of a quarantine service at most Nigerian border points. He added that Naqs promotes and regulates sanitary and phytosanitary measures in connection with the import and export of agricultural products with a view to minimising the risk to agricultural economy, food safety and the environment.

Mr Isegbe said: “So far, in all the records that we have, of all the agro-products interceptions, between 80% to 82% are all prohibited items. I know your next question will be why is it happening? It is because the quarantine service is not at the specific point of checking those things.”

“There are two government circulars that delineated the quarantine service from operating at those points, saying that it is only Customs that will invite the quarantine service. And, of course, the Customs have their own duty to perform, in fact, so much to perform. So those are some of the issues that the government is looking at to be able to review.”

He added  however, that most reports by the EU on agro-product interceptions from Nigeria were incidental cases. Mr Isegbe, however, stated that the government through the Naqs was working hard to ensure that agricultural commodities exported legally from Nigeria were not rejected or seized abroad.

“You could have a situation where probably somebody carried a consignment for personal use and it is intercepted. Of course, you know that when that happens, that interception will be reported within the 27-member EU nations and somebody who does not know the reason for the interception will say oh, so much has been intercepted.

“Now, there are other prohibited items such as wood bark used for local medicines, that  is completely prohibited. We don’t want people to export that but they do and such items get confiscated upon arrival in the EU."