The Lower Chamber of the National Assembly has alerted Nigerians to the existence of purported cancer-causing tomato pastes imported into the Nigerian market by some unscrupulous people, promising to unmask those behind the nefarious act.
The House of Representatives arrived at this resolution following the adoption of a motion under matters of urgent public importance moved on the floor of the House on Wednesday by Hon Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta State).
While referring to a publication in a national newspaper of May 9, 2016, the lawmaker alleged that there was a cabal who had boasted that nothing could stop them from importing the fake and substandard tomato paste into the country.
“This ugly development of importation of cancer infested tomato paste is killing a lot of Nigerians and it is reported that this mafia group is collaborating with few indigenous manufacturers in Nigeria who are being used as a cover up to distribute the killer products,” he said.
Ossai expressed worries that the “fake, substandard and cancer-causing tomato paste” has flooded the Nigerian markets with low prices, which had compelled the closing down of ingenious tomato companies in Nigeria and had led to the laying off of over 50 per cent of their workforce.
The motion was unanimously passed with the House mandating its Committee on Health Services and Drug and Narcotics to investigate the alleged importation of the said fake, substandard and cancerous products into the country with a view to identifying them, their importers as well as promoters and distributors said to have circulated the nation’s market with the products at very cheap prices.
The committee was given three weeks to report back to the House for further legislative input.
