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The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, has said that over 103 Nigerian products exported abroad were rejected for being substandard.
He said the products were said not to meet acceptable international quality standards
Aganga stated this in Abuja on Thursday, April 23, 2015, as he unveiled the new complex of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
He blamed the rejection on the lack of accredited laboratories in the country, where the products could be tested before being shipped abroad.
The Minister however stated that an internationally-accredited laboratory to check the products has been put in place in Lagos.
“We all say we want to diversify the economy with a view to increasing our income from non oil products. But there is no way we can achieve this without having quality infrastructure such as the laboratory.
Aganga said; “For instance, we could not export yam to the United Kingdom because we do not have a laboratory to test it here. Those who export products in Nigeria take them to Ghana to test them and the credit goes to Ghana.
“In the last five years, Nigeria has more than 103 rejects. If you compare that to other African countries like South African and Ghana, who only have between six to seven rejects, our is unacceptable.
“We are having this rejects because we did not have accredited laboratory in the country. However, we can confidently say we have addressed that challenge now.
“About two days ago, I commissioned a new internationally accredited laboratory in Lagos. It is first time ever that we will be having such an accredited laboratory with such scope, twelve scopes.”
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