Date: 2016-10-28

The Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, said on Wednesday that the Federal Government had instituted an Inter-Ministerial Agency Committee on Zero Reject Policy to address the ban on some Nigerian food items such as beans by the European Union.

Awolowo, represented by the Director, National Export Office, NEPC, Mr. Matthew Iranloye, spoke at the end of a two-day workshop/demonstration of agricultural produce's drying equipment for product quality improvement, preservation and export competitiveness in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

According to him, the committee was spearheaded by NEPC in collaboration with some ministries, departments and agencies.

Awolowo stated that it was against this background that NEPC in collaboration with a private firm, Olu Olu Industries Limited, inaugurated the prototype agric processing machine to address the recent EU ban on some Nigerian food items due to quality issues.

Iranloye, in an interview with journalists, further said the European Union had extended its ban on Nigerian beans to the next three years.

According to him, the EU has banned Nigerian beans from its market from the beginning of 2016.

He stated that the ban would have been lifted in 2017 but was extended to three years, as the EU considered that not much progress had been made to address the problem.

He, however, said NEPC was making efforts to remedy the situation, adding that the ban could be lifted before the deadline if there was appreciable improvement.