The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has formally given its seal of approval for the Unilorin Water with the allocation of product registration numbers to the two water brands.

With this, the University of Ilorin Water Enterprises, producer of Unilorin table and sachet water brands, is now free to commence the large scale distribution of the water product anywhere outside the University campus.

The approval was conveyed through two separate letters from NAFDAC's Import Food & Package Water Division, dated March 4, 2014, and addressed to the Managing Director, University of Ilorin Water Enterprises.

 Signed by C. C. Ofuani, on behalf of NAFDAC Director General, the letters, with reference numbers 2014/RW/0845 and 2014/LW/2141 respectively, read in part, “I am directed to inform you that the following products have been granted production registration certificates: Unilorin table water 50CL & 75CL bottles with Registration Number C1-2090 and Unilorin table water 50CL sachet with Registration Number C1-2049L.”

In a chat with Unilorin Bulletin last Wednesday (April 2, 2014), the Marketing Manager, University of Ilorin Water Enterprises, Mr. AbdurRahman Idris, said, “With this, we have the license to sell our products anywhere in the country”, adding that the factory has over 50 distributors within and outside the University community.

Mr. Idris said, “We will be serving the immediate environment such as Tanke, Oke-Odo and other immediate environs of the University campus including our sister institutions in Kwara State and subsequently other parts of the town and the country.” He disclosed that the factory has enough volume of water to meet the needs of these communities.

            The Manager said that the wholesale price of a bag of sachet water is N100.00 and N300.00 and N400.00 for the 50CL and 70CL table water respectively. He disclosed that before the license, the factory was producing 1000 bags of sachet water daily as well as 200 and 250 packs of 50CL and 75CL table water respectively, daily.

Mr. Idris said, “We shall now increase our production to 2000 bags of sachet water and 500 packs of both 50CL and 75CL table water every day”. He noted that the University of Ilorin Water Enterprises is aware of the Table Water Producers Association's resolution, three years ago, fixing selling price of sachet water at N10.00, adding that “Table water bought from us can be sold at sellers' discretion. We don't have control over that. Some sell at N10.00 per sachet while some sell two sachets for N15.00.”

Describing the process of production, the Marketing Manager said that the factory produces and packages the product within a serene, clean and hygienic environment, adding, “We have five sedimentation tanks connected to special borehole, Huwa-San, Sand Filter, carbon filter and four treated water tanks.”

He added, “For the sachet water, we have filter microns, ultraviolet sterilizer and automatic packing machine while for the bottle water, we have micro filter, reserve osmosis, treated water tank, ultra violet sterilizer and washing, filling and capping machine”.

Mr. Idris, who thanked the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, other Principal Officers and the entire University community for the support they have shown to the water factory, promised not to let them down. “They have been wonderful ambassadors of the company”, he said.

After about five years of planning, the N55 million Unilorin Water Enterprises commenced operation last September with a promise to produce sparkling clean water for the consumption of members of the University community and beyond.

At a meeting of the University Senate on September 18, 2013, the Director of Unilorin Consultancy Services Unit, the supervisor of the project, Prof. D. S. Ogunniyi, said that apart from its revenue generating potential, the water produced at the factory would also enhance the health of members of the University community, as it would be produced under strict hygienic conditions.