Ethical and business Fraud! Nenadi Begs Akunyili For Dangote on factory closure


http://www.thenewsng.com/modules/zmagazine/article.php?articleid=16468

It is no longer news that the no-nonsense helmsman of the National Agency for Drug, Food, Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Prof. Dora Akunyili, has ordered the closure of Kano Flour Mills belonging to the Dangote Group, over non fortification of Danvita with vitamin A despite the fact that the bag for its packaging carries the eye logo and a big ‘A’ sign, an inscription indicating that it is fortified, an act, which Akunyili described as fraudulent and deceptive as well as a serious sabotage to public health.

What, however, is news is that some of the friends of the billionaire businessman have been appealing to the ‘Madam’ to temper justice with mercy.

City Players can revealed that one of them is Nenadi Usman, the erstwhile Finance minister.

Nenadi, we gathered, is close to both Dangote and Akunyili and sources close to the NAFDAC boss said she has been making frantic moves on the matter.

If that is true,then Akunyili tenure as NAFDAC boss is coming to an end unless she backs down.

Akunyili doesn't have to close the flour mills down unless the firm had been previously warned and it didn't comply. She could just fine the company and give them time to comply with the rules regarding fortification (or ask the company to quit deceiving the public).

The presumption is that the appropriate procedures have been complied with.Otherwise the Finance Minister won't be "begging" for a non-closure.The story is too sparse anyway to tell

Nigeria: NAFDAC Threatens to Shut Down Salt Factories

This Day (Lagos)
14 May 2007
Posted to the web 14 May 2007

Onwuka Nzeshi
Abuja

National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has warned that it would shut down any salt factory in the country that failed to comply with regulations on salt iodisation and migration from packaging salt in big 25kilogramme sacks to smaller packs by December 31, 2007.

Director General, NAFDAC, Professor Dora Akunyili, who gave the warning at a news conference to commemorate the Nigerian Universal Salt Iodisation (USI) Certification Award in Abuja, said the deadline has been shifted three times since a 2004 agreement was reached between the agency and salt manufacturers.
Africa 2007

Nigeria was recently certified as Universal Salt Iodisation (USI) compliant, having achieved 98 per cent elimination of iodine deficiency. Nigeria is the first African country to get such recognition after the national Programme for the Elimination of Iodine Deficiency had been assessed in 2005 by an external team of experts.

Although the recognition was in 2005, the coveted prize was only presented in April 2007 at an international forum on Micronutrient Deficiency held in Turkey.

Akunyili recalled that for three decades, Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) constituted a major threat to the health of Nigerians and Total Goitre Rate (TGR), prevalence was as high as 67 per cent as at 1988 and in 1990 during which an estimated 40 million Nigerians were afflicted by goitre.

She said the certification was not a licence to become complacent, but a wake up call to ensure strict compliance to achieve a hundred per cent salt iodisation, through elimination of the remaining two per cent believed to reside with local salt producers and some unscrupulous industrial salt manufacturers who are yet to fully comply with all the regulations, including packaging.

"We are beginning to feel ashamed each time we report to the international community that deadlines can be shifted for up to three times in Nigeria. It shows unseriousness, and I believe this shifting of deadline is making the industries relax, because they now believe that the deadline can always be shifted. We will not shift this deadline anymore. If it means closing down most of the salt producing factories, we will do it, so that we do not continue ridiculing the country with the story of deadline after deadline," she said.

UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Mr Ayalew Abai, applauded the development and stated that with 98per cent of the households having access to adequately iodized salt and 100per cent iodized salt being produced at factory level, Nigeria has achieved a remarkable feat.

Nigeria: Dangote Protest's NAFDAC's Closure of Kano Factory

This Day (Lagos)

22 May 2007
Posted to the web 22 May 2007

Crusoe Osagie
Lagos

Dangote Group has stated that the shutdown of its entire Kano factory by National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control NAFDAC's northern zonal office is unfair and has set the company back.

Chief Operating Officer of Dangote Group Mr Olakunle Alake who briefed the media in Lagos yesterday about the closure of the entire six production lines of the Kano factory explained that the target product of the regulatory body in the shut down is produced from a single line.
Africa 2007

"The product, which was NAFDAC's target in the closure of our factory is the Wheat Semolina (Danvita) and NAFDAC's query is that it has not been fully fortified with vitamin A. This product is turned out from only a single line in the Kano factory and it is not fair for the entire factory, which has 6 lines to be shut down because of just one product", he said.

He explained that Dangote is Nigeria's first manufacturer to fortify sugar and salt with Vitamin A. He added that in the same vein the company has embarked on the fortification of the product in question in phases.

"The equipments for fortification of Danvita has been installed and is already producing in Apapa and Ilorin factories. Kano is the next in line for the installation of the machine," he said.

He said that the allegation that the product, Danvita,could be injurious to health was not true.

Alake said the product remained a wholesome food that had already been certified fit (with appropriate certification) by NAFDAC.

He also decried the manner the agency stormed the premises, stressing that NAFDAC and Dangote had always been in good terms. He, therefore, expressed shock

over the twist taken by the latest turn in relationship that led to the factory closure last week Thursday.

"Dangote was the first company to take up and implement the fortification in sugar and salt shortly after the Federal Government unfolded the initiative in 1999. For sugar fortification, the project took two years. It is a long process. One therefore wonders why this sudden approach to the fortification issue," he said.

While lamenting the hardship and general losses the action of the agency had caused the company and individual employees, the Dangote boss said there was no justification for the total closure of the compound that harbour six mills.

According to him, "If at all NAFDAC decided to close down the supposed offending mill, which is just one out of six, closing down five other mills within the
premises would naturally take its toll on the company and individual employee's economy".

He, therefore, appealed to the agency and the government to consider the overall impact on the economy by reopening the company.

Meanwhile, a NAFDAC investigative team has been reported to have commenced work on the Ilorin, Apapaand Calabar mills of the group, preparatory to verifying whether they had actually complied with Vitamin A fortification mode, as claimed by the company.

Well, NAFDAC has the right to close down a company if the company has been warned in the past and it failed to comply.

For instance, the salt factory has up till Dec 31, 2007 to comply.

If NAFDAC really closed down the Kano flour mills, then it must have been warned in the past.

I think they should re-open the Kano flour mills since the Dangote official said they are working on complying with NAFDAC's mandate. Nenadi Usman doesn't have to say anything but expalin to Akunyili that the Kano firm is working on complying.  QED.
.

But Nenadi Usman is not NAFDAC's laison officer neither does NAFDAC report to the ministry of finance.

According to the first post on this thread, Nenadi Usman is a friend of Dangote. Her intervention in this matter is in an un-official capacity, it has nothing to do with her being minister of finance.

The question is whether Nenadi actually expects NAFDAC to back down from performing its rightful duty on the ground of friendship. If so, who will ''beg'' for the fake drug traders whose businesses, albeit ''fake'' has been shattered by the same NAFDAC. Or are their two different sticks for the same measurement?

Making a quick comparison: If you ingest a fake drug (medicine) you either do not get relief from your ailment because the active ingredient (ai) in the drug is absent or of low concentration; or you die if the drug is actually poison. Now talking about Dangote salt factory in which iodine (I) is said to be absent (contrary to company claims), one gets goitre (fatal lump in the throat) when you lack I. Imagine that you keep taking iodine- deficient Dangote salt for years and the level of degeneracy (speaking of I deficiency) you end up with over time. Therefore, both examples are not far-fetched. NAFDAC should prosecute/punish, appropriately, the errant company like they have done the drug fakers, so far.

The question is whether Nenadi actually expects NAFDAC to back down from performing its rightful duty on the ground of friendship.

Well, remember, Dangote group is working on complying with NAFDAC's mandate. If Dangote group wasn't complying now, that'll be a completely different case

If so, who will ''beg'' for the fake drug traders whose businesses, albeit ''fake'' has been shattered by the same NAFDAC. Or are their two different sticks for the same measurement?

There is a big difference between those that sell fake drugs and this dangote matter. Dangote was engaging in deceptive business practices by labelling his product as having certain vitamins when it really doesn't - which I condemn.

The fake drug dealers are selling inferior products of brand name drugs. Besides violating copy right laws, people have been known to die or fall seriously ill as a result of these fake drugs.

So, you can't really compare the two. While the dangote situation is "correctable" the same cannot be said for the fake drug dealers.

Personally, I think NAFDAC should re-open the Kano flour mills as long as Dangote agrees to comply with the guidelines by a specific date or time frame.

Now talking about Dangote salt factory in which iodine (I) is said to be absent (contrary to company claims), one gets goitre (fatal lump in the throat) when you lack I. Imagine that you keep taking iodine- deficient Dangote salt for years and the level of degeneracy (speaking of I deficiency) you end up with over time.

I don't think NAFDAC is saying iodine is completely absent from Dangote's salt, atleast i didn't see this being mentioned. If NAFDAC knows for a fact that Dangote's salt would be harmful in anyway to the public, I believe it would shut down its plants immediately. NAFDAC issued warnings and gave a Dec 31, 2007 deadline as I recall.

National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has warned that it would shut down any salt factory in the country that failed to comply with regulations on salt iodisation and migration from packaging salt in big 25kilogramme sacks to smaller packs by December 31, 2007.

As you can see above (in bold), the issue here is salt iodisation as it pertains to 25 kg sacks vs. smaller sacks. No where here has Dangote been accused of making salt that lacks iodine as you previously stated.