– By Paul Omoruyi*
I am calling on the Nigerian Government to declare a day of National
DETOXIFICATION from all the poisonous products Nigerians have been eating
and drinking for so many years now. Then start a National Sensitization
campaign to educate Nigerians about the benefit of eating locally produced
verifiable natural food as opposed to eating unknown foreign food.
We all know that majority of Nigerians suffer from disguised inferiority
complex that drive them to seek foreign products in order to feel good
about themselves; or at least make them feel that they are better off than
other Nigerians who consume local products.
Three years ago, I was driving through a busy intersection in Nigeria when
I noticed an unusually large crowd as individuals push their way through
the throng. Out of curiosity, I went over to see what the craziness was all
about. I couldn’t believe what I saw – sale of so called “imported wines”.
Noticing the pitiful look on my face, one buyer passionately told me “this
just land from Italy now now my brother”.
I left that place knowing that people will drink those so called “imported
wines” without knowing what it is made from or from where it came.
It could have been “imported” by a local dubious fellow (who has created
and affixed a “Made in Italy” label on a sugar and dye drink!) right across
the street or from China, Ghana or just about anywhere anyone with access
to empty bottles exists.
Nigerians will eat, drink, wear and buy at any price anything that has a
“foreign” name to it. Sometimes, I cannot make any sense out of it all.
I remember a friend in Lagos enthusiastically telling me we should go eat
Domino Pizza or Burger fast food as “big boys”. I looked at him in awe and
outright disbelieve. “You think I will come to Nigeria to eat all those
garbage?” I asked. No oo bros, na big boys levels for Naija oo, he said. Ok
oo, na una know wetin una see for naija with all these foreign fast food,
me na bitter leaf soup I want eat.
These days, young Nigerians die from different kinds of diseases and
illnesses unheard-of decades ago. Who knows how many Nigerians have died
from diseases engendered by eating/drinking fake food/drinks?
The unfortunate side of all of this is that Nigerians naturally default to
blaming any death on witches and wizards; evil relatives or in-laws.
Only God knows the number of Nigerians living today with poisonous toxins
in their systems from the fake-no-nutritive-value food that they have
consumed (unfortunately still consuming) over the years.
Little Nigerian kids are not left out from being fed with these poisonous
nutrition-less foods. Whenever I am in Nigeria, it amazes me to see how my
little nieces and nephews crave for Instant Noodle, popularly called
“Indomie”.
I cannot tell if the fake food videos being shared on social media is true
or false, but I do know that the United States Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) has been critical for years now about contaminated/fake products from
China. What gladdens my heart is that Nigerians are beginning to know that
there is something called “fake food/drink” that could be imported or
locally produced.
In the past, the United States FDA have banned several products from Asia
to protect Americans from consuming toxic foods.
On June the 28th, 2007, CNN reported “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
on Thursday announced it is blocking the import from China of five species
of seafood until their importers can prove they are not contaminated.
“FDA is initiating an import alert against several species of imported
Chinese farmed seafood because of numerous cases of contamination with
drugs and unsafe food additives,” said Dr. David Acheson, the agency’s
assistant commissioner for food protection, in a conference call with
reporters.
The species cited are catfish, eel, shrimp, basa and dace, he said. Basa is
similar to catfish; dace is similar to carp.
The medications cited include the antimicrobials nitrofuran, malachite
green, gentian violet and fluoroquinolones.
Nitrofuran, malachite green, and gentian violet have been shown to cause
cancer in laboratory animals.
Use of fluoroquinolones in food-producing animals can result in antibiotic
resistance.
None of them is approved for use in farmed seafood in the United States and
some of them have been shown to cause cancer when fed to laboratory animals
for “prolonged periods of time,” Acheson said.
The food will not be allowed into the United States until the importer can
prove it is free from harmful contaminants, Acheson said.
He said the agency decided to broaden its previous alerts for products from
individual companies to a countrywide alert after tests showed that 15
percent of those species of seafood produced by 18 companies in China
contained traces of one or more of the contaminants.
“FDA is taking this action to protect the public health of the American
people,” he said.”
The Nigerian government has a big role to play here. NAFDAC and Customs
have to ensure that mass produced local foods/drinks and all imported
foreign food/drink products go through rigorous testing/quality control
before allowing them on the market.
For those who do not trust the Government’s ability to certify food on the
market, a quick googling of “how to spot fake food” will provide you a
wealth of knowledge of what to look out for to protect yourself.
Nigerians as a people will need to change their disposition towards local
and foreign food/drink products in order to avoid all the unknown deadly
toxins they might be consuming daily.
God bless Nigerians and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
Paul Omoruyi
Email: eng.p.omoruyi@gmail.com
Twitter:@paul_omoruyi
Blog @:www,