Govt asks NAFDAC to cut product registration period to 60 days

Staff members of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) coming out of the Agency’s headquarters during a protest welfare packages, in Abuja on Friday (22/9/17). 22/9/2017/Anthony Alabi/BJO/NAN

The Nigerian government has asked the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration, NAFDAC, to cut down its time of registration of products from 90 to 60 days.

The vice president of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, who said this in Abuja on Tuesday at the NAFDAC stakeholders’ consultative forum on the ease of doing business in Nigeria, noted that this will encourage business owners.

Mr. Osinbajo, who was represented by his special adviser on micro, small and medium enterprises, Fola Johnson, said with the new directive, NAFDAC would need to speed up its process of registration as this was one of the best ways to encourage small businesses.

“Sixty days is possible. Collectively let us put our house in order. Let MSMEs, NAFDAC and the federal government, target 60 days. The shorter the time for registration, the better for MSMEs, because just to collect a registration number should not take months, when will you start the business? When will you start making profits?

“Any MSME that employs a person today is doing the federal government a huge favour. What the federal government is supposed to do is create an enabling environment. It is the private sector that drives the economy, so we must encourage every activity that drives that space”, he said.

The acting Director General of NAFDAC, Ademola Mogbojuri, said the agency was already encouraging small businesses as it had recently slashed by 50 per cent the cost of registration for companies with less than five employees.

Mr. Mogbojuri, who was represented by Abubakar Jimoh, said the agency had reduced its registration period ”from a maximum of one year to a minimum of 90 days.”

He said efforts would be made to ensure that it is brought down to between a month and 60 days especially for small businesses.

“In order to encourage MSMEs, NAFDAC has guaranteed a 50 per cent reduction in cost of registration of products for companies with five or less than five employees.

“We’ve also reduced the registration time to 90 days and established a small business support desk to guide small business through the registration process and serve as enquiry point for small businesses on regulatory issues.

“NAFDAC has set up a system for the electronic submission of documents to line directorates to reduce the time taken for hard copies to get to such directorates in Lagos”, he said.