The Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) has identified the poor quality of packaging and labeling as the major reason why exported products from Nigeria are rejected overseas.
Wiliam Eze, Director, Business Development of NIPC made this known while speaking at the 2019 Packaging, Plastics, Food Processing, Labelling and Print exhibition organised by Propak West Africa in Lagos.
Eze said that packaging and branding were important tools for businesses to succeed and that the problem of packaging in Nigeria had become complex because innovations kept changing due to the market trend of consumer’s demand and behavior.
A recent report says that 30% of our (Nigeria) exports to the United States are rejected as a result of poor packaging and labeling, not quality of the products.
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“Packaging has been at the forefront of product development as well as marketing efforts. Packaging and branding have been critical marketing tools both in the domestic and export market. Therefore, this has underlined the reason why manufacturers, producers, and Medium and Small Micro Enterprises attend this event.” Eze said.
According to Eze, it’s important for the supply value chain to be able to meet the demands of the products and the packaging system as it evolves. Therefore, manufacturers were urged to adopt practices that would make the environment sustainable.
The challenge of Nigerian products being constantly rejected at the international market has become a major problem that has persisted for a long time. Recall that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) announced its partnership with relevant agencies in the country in an effort to combat the trend recently.
The agencies include Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), Shippers Councils, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), and the Nigeria Agricultural and Quarantine Service (NAQS), among others.
With these relevant bodies coming together to make international accessibility and acceptability possible for Nigerian exporters, hopefully, there will be a solution soon.
Samson Oyedeyi
