‘We Are Very Ignorant. We Don’t Read. We Don’t Understand.’ – NAFDAC Boss Says

The boss of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control(NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has sparked a huge discussion across Nigeria.

She stated that many people in the country do not read labels and do not understand how different government offices protect public health. She made these clear statements during a live television interview with BusinessDay TV.

During the interview, Professor Adeyeye was explaining how government offices check the food people eat every day, from the time it grows on the farm until it gets to the dinner table.

She said that many citizens blame her agency for food problems that belong to other offices because people do not read or know the rules.

Laying out her points plainly, she stated: “First of all, we are ignorant in this country. We are very ignorant. We don’t read. We don’t understand”.

The agency chief explained that different government groups have different jobs when it comes to keeping food safe. She pointed out that her agency does not check raw farm goods sold straight from local markets.

To make this simple for everyone to see, she said: “From farm to fork, there are many organisations, there are many agencies that are involved. From farm to fork”.

She went further to give a plain example about everyday market items, saying: “NAFDAC mandate is for processed or semi-processed foods. So the oranges you buy in the market, we don’t control the oranges you buy in the market”.

According to her, the primary job of watching over raw farm items belongs to another group. She stated: “It is the Ministry of Agriculture that has the primary mandate for fresh produce. Fresh produce”.

The agency boss also talked about how some local farmers misuse dangerous farm chemicals and pesticides on crops.

She pointed out that high rates of people who cannot read or write make it hard for farmers to follow basic instructions written on chemical bottles.

Explaining why farmers make mistakes with chemicals, she said: “We have about 56 per cent illiteracy. If it’s a literate country, they will read: ‘Put one teaspoon in one gallon.’ Sometimes our people don’t understand. And they think the more you put, the better”.

She explained that while her team tries to teach workers, they cannot visit every single farm in the country on their own.

She said: “But we cannot go to one million farmers in Nigeria; I don’t know how many millions we have. NAFDAC cannot do that. It is the Ministry of Agric that should be doing that”.

She added that her office still tries to assist, stating: “It is because we control the pesticide, we also should help in teaching them. The Ministry of Agric should be teaching them”.

She concluded that a lot of citizens simply do not understand where one agency’s duty ends and where another begins. She noted: “But many people don’t know”.

Her words have caused major discussions on social media platforms. Many citizens felt hurt by the strong words, while others agreed that public education about food safety and reading product labels needs to improve quickly across the whole nation.