NAFDAC DG: We Will Enhance Quality Testing of Medicines, Food Products
As a renewed drive to tackle fake and counterfeit products in Nigeria, the new Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said the agency would enhance its drive on quality testing of medicines and food products manufactured locally or imported into the country.
She said this would be achieved through adequately training of staff on international quality standards, and by providing needed laboratory infrastructure such as equipment and supplies.
Disclosing this during her maiden visit to the agency’s Head Office in Lagos, Adeyeye said the agency had, over the years, made steady progress in protecting the health of the nation, a feat she said would be improved upon.
Assuring that staff welfare would be in the front burner of her administration, Adeyeye, affirmed her commitment to leading the agency to eliminate substandard foods and drugs in the country.
She said NAFDAC would align with international standards in medical product regulation to ensure safety, efficacy and quality of lo- cally manufactured drugs and medical products.
“It will also create market opportunities for Nigeria in the supply of essential medicines to ECOWAS countries and beyond,” she added.
Emphasising the need for capacity building, the new NAFDAC boss, noted that the staff of the agency would be trained in regulatory science and clinical trial management, in compliance with international standards, and also conduct scheduled pharmaco vigilance and post marketing surveillance for evidence-based regulatory decisions.
Adeyeye also pledged to promote herbal medicines development through the creation of guidelines for local manufacturers, adding that her administration, would consolidate the agency’s successes in the use of anti-counterfeiting cutting edge technologies.
“The concerns of our people are mainly about safety of our drugs, food, medical devices and water. “Most people, including those who manufacture fake drugs and sell bad foods or water, do not plan to kill people, but may not fully understand that chemicals ( whether in drugs or food, or through bio-contamination) can kill hundreds of people easily,” she noted.