Business
Firm Explains Non-Registration Of Imported Wines
The Managing Director
of Wine Rack Company, Lagos, Mr Okey Chidolue, last Wednesday, attributed the non-registration of imported wine products in the country to the high cost of registration.
Chidolue made the observation at the opening of the “First Nigerian International Wine Festival’’, in Abuja.
He said that the situation had made the country’s wine dealers to continue to cut corners, thereby depriving the government of a huge revenue.
He said that the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) was statutorily empowered to regulate foods and drugs in the country, adding that the agency had done well so far.
Chidolue, however, reiterated that the high cost of registering imported wine products had discouraged wine dealers from registering products imported into the country.
“Registration of imported wine brands is too expensive and that discourages importers and supermarkets from registering these products.
“It is the high cost of registration that makes people to cut corners because it is not easy to use over a million naira to register one product.
“That is why I say NAFDAC is discouraging registration because the amount they are charging for one product is too high.
“If the charges are reduced, it will go a long way to encourage more people to register imported wine products and avoid being harassed by NAFDAC officials,’’ he said.
In his paper entitled “How to Recognise a Good Wine’’, Chidolue said that the core essence of regulating the wine trade was to protect buyers and promote the interests of wine producers and merchants.
He listed seven guidelines in efforts to recognise a good wine, saying that these included labeling which provided useful information for consumers.
Others, he added, were varieties of grapes, integration, aroma and flavour, complexity and connectedness or bond between the grape and the wine region.
One of the participants, Brand Development Manager of Euro Global Foods and Distilleries, Mr Vino Jkumar, said that the festival was to enlighten people on how to recognise quality wines.