By Godfrey Bivbere

Lagos—Following the return of five containers of beans exported to the Republic of Ireland, Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has ordered the involvement of the Nigerian Quarantine Service, NQS, in all examination of agro products for export to prevent further national embarrassment.

The Minister gave this directive when he visited the Lagos Port to inspect five exported containers returned  from Republic of Ireland. As a result, the minister has asked the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, to ensure that the NQS was involved in the inspection of any agro product for export or import into the country.

The European Union last year banned importation of Nigeria beans into any EU country  because they were unfit for consumption. Lokpobiri attributed the return of the five containers of beans to the same reason.

According to him, “It is very important that before any product leaves this country, there is need for proper quarantine certification so that we won’t have the type of embarrassment we are having now.

“Going forward, for any agro-products to leave this country either beans or apple, it must be certified by quarantine service, that is the global practice anywhere in the world.

“If you go to America, you can’t import anything without it being certified by their quarantine services. It is more important to get our acts right now because there is no more petro-dollars and we need agro-dollars.”

He stated that no other government agency has the right to certify agro-product for import or export but the NQS.