Practitioners in research, testing, calibration, schools and manufacturing laboratories have decried the poor regulation of sachet water production in the country, calling on the federal and Oyo state governments to improve the remuneration of laboratory workers.
They attributed the current spread of water borne diseases, lead poisoning and deaths caused by typhoid to negligence of regulatory bodies like the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and federal and state ministries of health.
This was part of the discussions at the 2026 World Laboratory Day, held at Iseyin with the theme “Rethinking The Role of Laboratories in Global Health and Development,” organised by Lab21 Services Limited in conjunction with the Association of Analytical and Calibration Laboratory Directors (AACLD).
In his address, the chairman of the occasion and CEO of BEREKOTRY Ltd, Iseyin, Engr Taslim Owonikoko, tasked the government at all levels to take the remuneration of laboratory workers into cognizance to stop the current spate of their migration abroad.
“Laboratory workers are essential to the growth of health, manufacturing, education and other institutions, if we continue with the spate of brain-drain in the sector, we may have to continue to complain about the inadequacies.
“It is now a standard or benchmark to have somebody abroad, especially if the person is in the medical line because of the value in their earnings abroad and values placed on their living standard.
“The government needs to first identify their importance, the onus is on our government to give the laboratory workers their worthy due and the community also should be sensitized that before traveling abroad, two or three years should be put into serving the community”, he said.
Delivering his lecture, the organiser of the event who is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Lab21 Services Limited, Dr Femi Oyediran, called on regulators of consumables like sachet water in Iseyin and Oke-Ogun, and Oyo State in general, to change their regulatory and monitoring system, as many killer diseases in the communities have been traced to water poisoning from sachet water.
“The only test NAFDAC and SON do for pure water manufacturers covers two years until the people want to renew, so these people carry out no test on the water they produce and sell to people.’
“It is estimated that 1.1million premature deaths annually could be prevented in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) if 90 percent of patients had the tests they need for just six conditions, for the manufacturers, especially water producers that are all over our communities, there should be checks,” he said.
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