Oluchi Chibuzor
The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has rejected provisions of the proposed Food, Medical Products and Related Products (Registration, Etc.) Bill, 2026, which search to carry tobacco merchandise beneath a further regulatory framework, warning that the laws might create institutional conflicts, duplicate current rules and undermine Nigeria’s enterprise atmosphere.
In its formal submission to the Senate Committee on Health, NECA cautioned that the proposed laws, sponsored by Senator Umar Sadiq Suleiman, might add pointless regulatory complexity to an business already ruled by complete legal guidelines and a number of regulatory establishments.
The Bill, which handed second studying within the Senate on July 21, 2026, seeks to repeal the Food, Drugs and Related Products Act, 2004, and set up a brand new regulatory framework for meals, medical and associated merchandise.
However, NECA maintains that extending its provisions to tobacco merchandise would battle with the present National Tobacco Control Act, 2015, National Tobacco Control Regulations, 2019, and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria Act, 2015.
The employers’ affiliation argued that the proposed framework would create overlapping obligations among the many National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and the Nigeria Customs Service.
According to NECA, the implications would come with a number of product registration necessities, duplicative approvals, conflicting enforcement selections, extra compliance prices, and uncertainty for respectable companies.
The affiliation maintained that tobacco merchandise represent a definite regulatory class and shouldn’t be handled as meals or medicines beneath the proposed laws.
It additional argued that NAFDAC’s current statutory mandate doesn’t expressly embody tobacco merchandise and that their inclusion within the new Bill would successfully lengthen the company’s authority into an space already ruled by devoted laws.
NECA additionally raised issues about provisions granting extra powers over product registration, suspension, seizure, manufacturing facility operations and enforcement, warning that such powers might battle with current institutional obligations.
Of specific concern is the proposed ceiling-list mechanism, which NECA believes might give NAFDAC extreme administrative discretion to limit merchandise with out enough statutory safeguards and oversight.
The affiliation consequently urged the National Assembly to exclude tobacco merchandise from the Bill’s scope, introduce acceptable safeguards towards unilateral regulatory selections, and strengthen coordination amongst current regulatory establishments.
