By Cynthia Alo
LAGOS — Stakeholders in Nigeria’s food industry have called for urgent standardisation of food production and processing systems, saying the country must establish uniform standards across the value chain to compete effectively in the global food market and unlock the sector’s economic potential.

The call was made on Wednesday at the unveiling of the third edition of the Nigeria Food Summit, NFS, 2026, in Lagos, where industry leaders stressed that food standardisation is critical to improving food safety, boosting consumer confidence, attracting investment and expanding export opportunities.
The two-day summit, themed “Gastronomy in Nigeria: Journey to Standardization,” is scheduled to hold on July 21 and 22 at the Landmark Event Centre, Lagos.

Speaking at the event, Convener of NFS, Captain Gbolabo Gibbs, said Nigeria’s challenge was not a lack of food resources or culinary diversity but the absence of systems that guarantee quality, consistency and scalability.

According to him, standardisation remains the bridge between Nigeria’s rich culinary heritage and a globally competitive food economy.

“Nigeria does not have a food potential problem; we have a systems opportunity. Standardisation is the bridge between our extraordinary culinary heritage and a globally competitive food economy.
“If we want Nigerian gastronomy to earn lasting international recognition, we must build systems that allow excellence to be repeated, trusted and scaled,” he said.

Gibbs noted that Nigeria stands to gain significantly from the growing global appetite for African cuisine but warned that the country could miss out on opportunities if it fails to develop standards that support quality assurance, documentation and branding.

He said the summit would provide a platform for stakeholders across the food value chain to develop practical solutions that would strengthen the industry and position it for sustainable growth.
He added: “We’re no longer going to treat our food as something mundane or unimportant. It is the responsibility of educated people to step up, document our food properly and use the right terminology and language around it.

“That is exactly what we are doing through the Nigeria Food Summit. We are bringing everyone into the same room to ask ourselves a simple but important question: how can we move Nigeria’s food industry forward?”

Also speaking, Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Systems, Ms Abisola Olusanya, said food standardisation was essential to improving food quality, safety and professionalism across the industry.

She said standardisation would also strengthen consumer confidence and position Nigerian cuisine to compete favourably in international markets.

“Standardisation is about more than consistency. It is about quality. It is about food safety. It is about professionalism. It is about building consumer confidence and positioning Nigerian cuisine to compete confidently on the global stage,” she said.

On her part, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of PricePally, Ms Jummai Abalaka, said the process of standardisation should begin at the farm level rather than in the kitchen.

According to her, standards that cut across the entire food value chain would improve outcomes for farmers, businesses and consumers while reducing waste and enhancing food accessibility.

“Gastronomy starts long before the kitchen; it begins on the farm. Standardisation connects every stakeholder across the food value chain, delivering better outcomes for farmers, businesses and consumers,” she said.

Abalaka added that a resilient food system requires standards from farm to fork to build trust, improve livelihoods and strengthen the nation’s food ecosystem.

The summit is expected to bring together policymakers, regulators, farmers, processors, manufacturers, chefs, restaurateurs, investors, researchers, hospitality professionals and development partners for discussions on food quality, safety, innovation, entrepreneurship, policy, documentation and global competitiveness.

Among those who attended the unveiling were the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Tourism, Arts and Culture, Idris Aregbe; Chef Treazy of Slow Food Cooks’ Alliance Nigeria; television presenter and Diageo Brand Ambassador, Lanzy Jampak; President of the Culinary Arts Practitioners Association of Nigeria, CAPA, Chef Amaka; and Chef Lizzy, who will lead the summit’s Debate Room session.