TheCable

The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it has waived 50 percent on registration fee for locally manufactured products to promote Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

Speaking to NAN on Friday, Abubakar Jimoh, spokesperson of NAFDAC, said that the measure would go a long way in promoting economic development.

He explained that the measure was put in place because some people were using the registration to extort money from Nigerians.

“Sometime back, we discovered that a lot of people were extorting money from Nigerians for registration fee of products. We decided to license some consultants who are professionals,” Jimoh said.

“But those unscrupulous elements fizzled into the consultancy firm that registered with us and continued their extortion from potential entrepreneurs.

“They collect as much N250,000 to N300,000 for registration of less than N50,000, claiming that part of the money will be used to settle NAFDAC officials.

“The agency has taken decision to stop them after the expiration of their licenses; we will stop them and deal directly with intending manufacturers.”

He also said that a policy introduced by Paul Orhi, a former director-general of NAFDAC, where National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) will be given a waiver to establish small business, is still in existence but the corps members were not taking advantage of it.