Over Five thousand youth stand to be employed as FHIN bill is passed in to law – Dr. Karimu

Favor Ishember , Abuja

The Bill, seeking for an act to establish “Nigeria food Vendors Bio Data Collection Agency” sponsored by Food Hygiene Initiative of Nigeria ( FHIN) if passed into law by the national Assembly will  create employment opportunities for over fifty thousand youths across the country.

 

The Director General, Food Hygiene Initiative of Nigeria, Amb.Jonah Nicolas Karimu stated this in his address at the closing parade of the one week training and screening exercise organized by the organization in Abuja.

 

 

Amb. Karimu who explained that  the essence of the training and screening  is to make sure that the organization  get all the data of their officers all over the country and at the same time, to make sure that all the rules and regulations of the organization are fully followed by the members, said if the  Bill is finally  passed in to low by the national Assembly to become an Agency of it’s own, will  go a long way to ensuring that the youths of this country are well engaged and employed because this Agency alone is going to employ nothing less than fifty thousand youths across the country.

 

Filing questions from newsman, Amb. Karimu stated that the clash of interest among other sister agencies earlier identified has been taken care of , as the organization now have a definite job description that has Distinguished her from other health and low enforcement agencies.

 

In the words of the Director General: “This Bill was not the first bill at the National Assembly, we have the first bill where we have issues with other sister agencies as they complain about most of the functions and we come to an agreement within the national Assembly and we were advice to go back and work on this Bill and bring out what will not bring clash of interest between this Agency and other Agencies and by the grace of God, we worked on it and the National Assembly are also seriously working on it, now the Bill has passed through first and second reading awaiting the public hearing “.

 

He explained that The FHIN has as it’s sole responsibility to start with Food vendors bio- data capturing, to

capture all the food vendors in Nigeria,  have their data’s and issue them identification number for easy identification so that when there is any case of food poisoning or any food mishandling we can be able to trace them and bring them to book.

 

” Since the inception in 2014, the organization has been aggressively promoting food Hygiene standard practices all over the nation with a specific Mandate of ensuring good food for better health.

 

“Our commitment to promotion health by setting good hygiene standard practices in Nigeria is making progress as the national board of trustees recently presented another bill seeking for an act to establish the Nigeria Food vendors bio-data collation Agency to the national Assembly, which by the grace of God, the bill has passed first and second reading at the house of representative awaiting the public hearing” he added.

 

Hence, he said the importance of this training and national screening can not be over emphasized. Thus, the food Hygiene Initiative of Nigeria is dedicated to good vendors bio-data capturing to apply the best hygiene and safe good handling standard practices in Nigeria, as they trained two thousand, five hundred Youths in the camp.

 

 

 

“I don’t know whether you are aware of an incident that occurred sometime this year, in Kano , where a lot of people died of food poisoning and we cannot trace the vendors  because we don’t have their data’s ; so in Nigeria we don’t have any Agency that holds the responsibility of ensuring that we have the data’s of food vendors that we can be able to trace them Incase of any food poisoning, so this Agency is coming up to ensure that all food vendors in Nigeria are captured by their data’s with their identification numbers, so that before you buy food from any food vendors you will make sure that they present their data’s and you see their number In case of any abnormalities”

 

 

“I believe that our lectures have done well and I believe that all of you have learnt very well, you know we are going into a new activities, is not like what we’re doing before, now we based on food vendors bio-data capturing and after the capturing we give them identification number for easy traceability In case of any food poisoning.

 

“you my get to your house and discover that the food is poisoned from there, we can trace who sold the food, that is our mission in this country.

 

“A lot of food poisoning cases are going on but we can’t identify who are the people doing it, that is why the national Assembly have critically looked at it and have seen that the Task of the Agency is very important and needful to the country and they went ahead to pass this Bill in the first and second reading, and by the grace of God, we are waiting for the public hearings” he added”

 

Amb. Karimu however, warned that the organization is not trained to make arrest but to capture bio-data and advise for now, as they are not low enforcement agency.

 

In the same vain, the FHIN  camp Commandant, Dr. Alu assured that with the training and discipline instilled in to the it’s members will go a long way to ensure they judiciously implement their task for general good of the Nigerian citizens.

 

Also speaking, a trained offer Superintendent, Melody Job said the re-training has helped to inculcate into her some vital key values that will enable her deliver her task as a food hygiene initiative officer to the Nigerians.