Status of FG rice to Oyo unknown –NAFDAC

The Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has said the agency does not know the status of the 1,800 bags of rice given to the Oyo State Government by the Federal Government.

Adeyeye said NAFDAC was not invited to take samples and conduct consumption fitness test on the Oyo rice consignment.
The NAFDAC DG spoke on Tuesday on a TVC programme, Journalists’ Hangout.

The Oyo State Government had said last Friday it was returning the 1,800 bags of rice given to it by the Federal Government, as the rice was found to be weevils-infested and unfit for human consumption.

But the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, said on Monday that the bags of rice distributed to states were inspected and certified fit for human consumption by NAFDAC.

But when asked on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout to speak on the status of the rice supplied to Oyo State, the NAFDAC DG said only the consignments to Lagos and Ogun States were tested by NAFDAC and certified fit for consumption.

Adeyeye said, “The one for Oyo State, I cannot say anything because NAFDAC was not called by the Ibadan or South-West Command of the (Nigeria) Customs, to test samples in Ibadan; so, I cannot say anything about the Ibadan command rice that went to Oyo and possibly to Osun.

“I don’t know why NAFDAC was not called to take samples from the Oyo State Command to test. We were not invited to come and take samples and we cannot do that.

“The ones that we tested (in Lagos and Ogun) were good enough and the rest of the samples are still in the lab in Oshodi.”

Adeyeye said in the cases of Lagos and Ogun states, it was Customs, and not the state governments, that invited NAFDAC to conduct consumption fitness test on the rice.