US picks Nigeria as location to promote chemical security

The United States of America on Wednesday averred that it has identified Nigeria as one of the most viable countries to promote chemical security for a safer world.

The Senior Director, America Chemical Council (ACC), Daniel Rockniak, stated this at a workshop tagged “Promoting Chemical Security for a Safer World,” in Abuja.

Rockniak noted that Nigeria is one of those countries they have identified as “hopefully good locations for responsible care, and that is why we are here to start this workshop”.

He said that his mission was to talk to stakeholders handling chemical distribution about how the country could handle responsible chemical distribution.

“We have seen benefits around the world of a country and industries taking up responsible care and having a program that identifies specific requirements,” he said.

He added that the US was not about to replace the regulations on chemical distribution in the country but to complement them.

He asserted that in a country where you already have chemical management programs, responsible care can help improve a company’s performance.

He said that if there were challenges with regulatory processes, responsible care could help fill some of those gaps by using best practices around the world to improve their chemical management.

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The Director, Chemical Evaluation and Research at National Agency for Food Drug, Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Patric Omokpariola, emphasisd that the concept of chemical safety had been around for many years.

Omokpariola said: “Everyone that has contact with chemicals and chemistry already knows that chemicals are inherently hazardous and dangerous, so we have to be kept in such a way to be safe.”

He said that the real concept of chemical security started after Sept. 11, 2021, what we usually call 9-11, during the attack on the World Trade Center.

He revealed that the NAFDAC had adopted the chemical security programs of the United States, noting that this is what’s being implemented in the country.

He stated that this had been developed to make sure that the citizens were able to keep chemicals safe.

“Chemical security is to keep people safe from the harmful effects of chemicals, while chemical security, on the other hand, is to keep the chemicals safe,” he said.

He added that this was to ensure people who have various activities, such as non-state actors, terrorists, and the rest of them, do not have access to chemicals.

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