NAFDAC Bills Firms for Raiding Them — Ex-NACCIMA President Alleges
Dele Oye, the former president of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), has raised concerns over the regulatory practices of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), alleging that companies are charged the cost of being raided.
Speaking in an interview with Nairametrics on Friday, Oye told PulseNets that Nigeria’s regulatory system discourages investments rather than supporting them.
“There’s no aftercare after investment in Nigeria from any government agency; they are only looking for funds. Everyone,” he said.
Oye further learnt that NAFDAC operations have become excessively punitive, stressing that companies must even pay for the logistics of raids against them.
“Do you know in NAFDAC now, you pay them when they raid you? Go and check. When they raid you, you pay for the cost of raiding you. I can show you.
You pay if they come to seal up your factory. You now pay for the police, pay for everything. This is how ridiculous these things are. I think all of them are playing to the gallery.”
Regulatory Agencies as “Fundraising Arms”
According to Oye, successive governments have converted regulatory institutions into fundraising machines by imposing arbitrary charges and altering policies to suit their immediate interests.
He reported that while the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) is tasked with overseeing both public and private organisations, government agencies themselves are never held accountable.
“If you see when they raided our factories, these guys come like they are doing a drug raid,” Oye spoke to PulseNets.
“They seal up the factory, go away with computers, and turn the people to slaves in their own business. That is not the way to grow the economy.”
The business leader told PulseNets that investors now factor these hostile policies into their decision-making process before committing capital in Nigeria.
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“That is now being factored into our investment climate, that if I’m going to do business in Nigeria, how much am I going to be held accountable by FCCPC, NITDA, and several others.
The one that is even more ridiculous was Coca-Cola. They said that the advert they did was confusing Nigerians, so for that they should pay about $150 million. This is ridiculous. It doesn’t make sense.”
Quota-Driven Enforcement
Oye added that the targets imposed on regulatory officers are the root cause of these aggressive practices, likening the situation to traffic wardens under pressure to meet revenue quotas.
“It is just like traffic wardens on the roads who are pressured to meet quotas, leading them to stop people unnecessarily,” he noted.
