Former vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, drew the nation’s attention to a particular menace that threatens our lives more than Boko Haram and bandits. It is sneaky and silent, and kills without traces, in many cases.
Osinbajo’s story was about his wife who took a particular fresh orange juice, as it was her habit, and developed a headache that defied medical explanation. The orange juice was sent to the lab for analysis and it was found to contain harmful substances. Fresh orange juice ooo, not processed.
So, how did the substance permeate the orange to pollute it? That leaves us speculating – could it be that the farmer who cultivated the orange applied harmful chemicals to scare away pests, or was it the seller that chose to preserve the fruit with yet some injurious substances?
No matter the direction the answers may tilt to, the situation reflects a decaying society. An alarming number of our young people come down with kidney and liver failures daily. One evidence is a viral video taken at a hospital in Enugu which exposed a frightening number of them lined up for dialysis and other treatments for their ailing kidneys.
The ugly development is traceable to leakage in the nation’s food and drugs control. Even when the National Foods and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the official body responsible for the regulation of what we eat in Nigeria, is willing and able to do its job, they are constrained by so many factors bothering on the general economy of the nation and some unwholesome traditional practices that have refused to disappear as the times kept changing.
The cost of genuine drugs for different ailments, including our common malaria, is high up, over the roof, away from the reach of an average Nigerian. So, sick persons are inclined to seek help in herbs and concoctions that are not verified and standardized. Ingestion of these medicines often have harmful effects on the liver, the kidney and other vital organs of the body.
If Nigerians escape the use of medicines because they are hale and hearty, they have the foods they buy to contend with. Nigeria records an estimated 200,000 deaths annually and loses about $3.6 billion in the same period to food contamination, use of unwholesome food additives, and unsafe food-handling. Recent studies by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) revealed that approximately 20 per cent of hospital admissions in urban areas of the country are attributable to foodborne diseases.
Some providers of fufu, a staple food for Nigerians from fermented cassava, have been accused of using detergents and other chemicals to hasten fermentation. Beans and other grains sellers use insecticides to preserve their yield.
We grew up to hear the saying that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Well, the saying may have changed. Reaching out for an apple today is a game of chance. You might be reaching out for a slow poison that might terminate your life before your time. The apples we eat today, the imported apples, are said to be preserved to last up to one year using ethylene oxide gas that keeps away moulds and bacteria and are brought to Nigeria for human consumption. The question is, if bacteria, fungus and other sensitive living organisms have refused to eat such apples, should we not avoid them and face the indigenous equivalent of the fruit – Udara?
Various fruits such as banana, mango, among others, are forced to ripen using calcium carbide, a chemical compound that generates gas for welding which is absolutely unfit for human consumption. Red palm oil is “enriched” with dye and diesel and sold to people. Fumigants such as Sniper are applied to fresh meat to drive away flies. Cooked meat is made tender by adding paracetamol to it. Unthinkable things happening in a poorly regulated Nigerian markets. At restaurants, meals are prepared and sold under conditions that fail the most basic hygiene standards.
Palm wine is our favourite traditional drink handed down to us by our fathers who mastered the art of tapping it in its raw nature. It is one drink that must not be absent at weddings, burials, festivals, or even where conflicts are being resolved. Amazingly, palm wine today has come under the class of products manufactured in quasi factories. On seeing the white stuff in the keg, prospective buyers ask whether it was manufactured (a ruru ya aru?) or that it was tapped (a kuru ya aku?) We have not mentioned the discovery of a series of backyard factories that mix whatever drinks and bottle under known brands for the market.
The pervading food fraud is exacerbated by dire economic pressure which is a direct consequence of soaring inflation, the devaluation of the naira and decrease in the purchasing power of Nigerians. The health consequences are the non-communicable diseases that visit us – kidney issues, obesity, diabetes, cancer and high blood pressure. These are hard to treat. Communicable diseases leave once the organism is eliminated from the body.
For this reason, the government owes Nigerians a duty to find possible means to curtail, if not stop these unwholesome practices. They must sponsor researches on safer ways to preserve food and make the knowledge and facilities available to the common dealers on such foods.
State and local governments should ensure good hygiene practices among local dealers such as those frying akara or selling food on the road as they do not fall within the responsibility of NAFDAC which is concerned with packaging and processing standards.
The law must bite hard. Section 243 of the Criminal Code Act addresses the sale of food that has been rendered harmful or unfit for consumption and the adulteration of food in a manner that makes it harmful. Offenders must be brought to book.
We thank erudite scholar and orator, Osinbajo, for bringing the subject once again to the public for discussions. The government eyes, however, cannot be everywhere. Since there are areas where NAFDAC might not be able to cover, it is necessary that we must have whistleblowers ready to give information promptly enough. The spirit should be, if you see something, say something.
Dr. Odu can be reached through [email protected] or SMS 07064052031
