The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, on Wednesday, replied a claim by the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye that the rice distributed to Oyo and other states were not certified by NAFDAC.
The Minister insisted that the rice distributed to the states were certified by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.
NAFDAC’s Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, had on Tuesday stated that her agency did not know the status of the 1,800 bags of rice given to Oyo State by the Federal Government after the latter had announced on Monday that NAFDAC certified the rice.
The DG explained that NAFDAC was not even invited to take samples and conduct a consumption fitness test on the rice consignment to Oyo state as stated by the Federal Government.
The Minister, while reacting to NAFDAC’s denial that it certified the rice distributed by the Federal Government, said she stood by her earlier statements.
She said, “On the statement of NAFDAC, we still stand by what we said because this was what was conveyed to us by Customs.
“And a certificate was issued stating that the rice given to us was good for human consumption before we flagged off the distribution in Lagos State.
“We can give you that certificate maybe by tomorrow or later today. So the NCS and NAFDAC, I am sure will sort out this communication gap and report back to this platform.”
