Senate bemoans EU ban on Nigeria’s agricultural products

The senate has expressed “serious” concern over the ban on ‎Nigeria’s agricultural products by the European Union (EU).

The EU announced the ban on some of Nigeria’s agricultural products last week.

According to Francis Alimikhena, deputy chief‎ whip, who moved a motion praying the senate to urge the federal government to direct the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to be alive in its regulatory oversights over food and agricultural products to ensure their global acceptance, the banned products include beans, sesame seeds, melon seeds, dried fish, dried meat, peanut chips and palm oil.

Alimikhena observed that the economy was set for a further slide‎ as a result of the ban on the agricultural products. He noted that for some time, EU had been warning Nigeria that these products constitute danger to human health as they contain high levels of pesticide “as a result of‎ which 50 notifications were issued on the matter and nothing significant was done to reverse the situation”.

“For instance, in 2013, 24 agro-products of Nigerian origin exported‎ to the UK were rejected while the figure increased to 42 in 2014,” he said.

He added that the “banned beans” were found to contain between 0.03mg kilograms to 4.6mg /kg of dichlorvos (pesticides) contrary to acceptable limits.

Consequently, the senate expressed concern that the EU ban was a setback for “a nation that is desperate to expand its export basket to boost domestic agricultural activities and to increase forex earnings and create jobs”.

It further expressed concern that the action of the EU “suggests that Nigeria’s unfavourable ‎balance of trade position with European countries would worsen as it shall be exporting few agricultural products”.

After a passionate debate on the matter,‎ the senate mandated its committee on health, when constituted, to look into the issue with a view to overturning the EU ban.

It also urged “the federal and state government to invest more in the production of agricultural produce for export, particularly cash crops such as cocoa, oil palm, groundnut and rubber trees‎, which are veritable and historical foreign exchange earners”.