• FCCPC seals textile firms over unethical practices
The Senate, yesterday, resolved to amend existing laws and impose stiffer penalties on anyone using toxic chemicals in food production or processing.
The resolution followed the adoption of a damning report by the Joint Senate Committees on Health (Secondary and Tertiary) and Agricultural Services, Production and Rural Development, which uncovered widespread, dangerous and illegal practices in Nigeria’s food supply chain.
“What Nigerians are eating daily is slow poison,” one lawmaker lamented during the debate. “This is not about consumer rights — it’s about survival,” he added.
The Senate’s investigative hearing, which was held on July 17, 2025, revealed a chilling trend of chemical abuse in food processing. Fruit sellers were found using raw calcium carbide — an industrial chemical for welding — to speed up ripening, releasing poisonous arsenic and phosphine gas in the process.
Meat vendors reportedly boil tough beef with paracetamol tablets to soften it. Grain merchants use Sniper (Dichlorvos) to kill insects in stored grains.
Cassava processors soak tubers in detergent or Hypo bleach. Palm oil and pepper sellers use Sudan IV dye — a banned colouring agent linked to cancer — to enhance redness.
And in abattoirs, some butchers burn tyres to remove animal fur, coating meat with toxic residues. Even fruits on supermarket shelves are not spared, with some coated with Morpholine, a waxing chemical banned by the European Union for its potential to cause liver and kidney damage.
The Senate report warned that these substances have been directly linked to cancer, kidney and liver diseases, and food-borne infections such as cholera and Lassa fever.
The consequences, the lawmakers said, are staggering. In 2025 alone, Nigeria recorded over 14,000 cholera cases resulting in 378 deaths, while 119 people died from food-related Lassa fever infections.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that Nigerians suffer over one million cases of food-borne illnesses yearly, costing the economy more than $3.6 billion in productivity losses and health expenses.
In response, the Senate resolved to strengthen existing laws, including Sections 243 to 245 of the Criminal Code, to prescribe tougher penalties for offenders.
The lawmakers also directed the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS), Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), and Nigeria Council of Food Science and Technology (NiCFOST) to immediately launch enforcement drives and nationwide sensitisation campaigns.
They warned that without urgent action, millions of Nigerians would remain exposed to chronic poisoning and disease from unsafe food.
ALSO, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has sealed five textile warehouses for “unethical practices” in Kano.
The warehouses, located around the Sharada industrial estate in the ancient city, were allegedly selling underweight fabric materials, thereby cheating unsuspecting customers.
Leading officials and security operatives, alongside journalists in the operation, yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Tunji Bello, disclosed that the warehouses were uncovered after an intelligence report.
He revealed that the closure was considered after a thorough investigation confirmed unwholesome practices. Represented by Director, Surveillance & Investigation Boladale Adeyinka, the CEO explained that the FCCPC took the drastic action to protect consumers and ensure fair competition in the market.
