The House of Representatives on Tuesday faulted the decision of the federal government to withdraw some regulatory agencies from all the entry points across the country, asking it to revert back to the former arrangement.
Specifically, the members have asked the federal government to reverse the instruction that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control(NAFDAC) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) should move.
It could be recalled that the minister of Finance and Head of the Economic Management Team (EMT), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had last week placed the order which she said was aimed at reducing cost of doing business in Nigerian ports, eliminating delays caused by the multiple government agencies at ports and in line with international best practices.
Eight other government agencies were also affected.
However, while the lawmakers agreed that there was the? need to reduce the number of agencies at the ports, they argued that the two agencies should be left to operate from there because of? the key functions they perform at the ports.
Debating the motion, Hon.Uzor Azubike (PDP-Abia), argued? that? ejecting such relevant agencies like NAFDAC and SON from the ports was in bad taste in view of their fight against fake and adulterated products.
Speaking in favour of the motion, minority leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (ACN-Lagos), suggested that the laws guiding the operations of the agencies should be reviewed to put a check on the rate at which the executive change their operations as an ordinary motion would not do much to stabilise their operations.
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