The Rising Profile Of NAFDAC

The success of any crusade is indisputably dependent on the degree of acceptance and support it enjoys from its benefactors. This is predicated on the fact that a good crusader must earn considerable followership which shows acceptance.

In developed countries, emphasis is placed on the provision of a standardised health care delivery system. The reason for this cannot be far fetched as it is internationally admitted that without health, wealth creation and sustenance is absolutely unachievable.

In Nigeria, an acclaimed Giant of Africa, for instance, the battle to accord its citizens full access to health care is prosecuted by the National Agency For Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

The dogged approach and patriotic zeal with which this agency’s health crusade is being pursued is indicative of discharging its statutory responsibilities.

Evidence abound to the effect that NAFDAC has initiated very frantic efforts directed at stamping out disastrous health practices which are capable of bastardising the nation’s health care sector. This is made possible by a determined and dependable leadership and  NAFDAC workforce. However, co-operation and support by Nigerians are required to make the agency’s efforts a huge success.

The agency’s determination to extricate counterfeited, substandard, and expired drugs and foods in line with its enabling law Decree 15 of 1993 as amended by Decree 19 of 1999 and currently Act Cap N1 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN)2004,is indeed a very worthy engagement in view of the havoc these substances have unleashed on unsuspecting Nigerians.

One must make bold to say that NAFDAC has persistently sustained positive result-oriented health boosting initiatives. It would not amount to an overstatement to say that the agency has confronted the   twin problems of fake drugs and food.

Just to add a bite to NAFDAC’s efforts at eliminating fake drugs, a high powered federal task force on fake and counterfeit drugs and foods was set up with branches in the states to compliment the efforts of the federal task force to fight the menace.

The task forces comprise seasoned security experts and professionals from the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria, the Consumer Protection Council, the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Custom Service and the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) which were assembled to salvage the nation from unsafe drugs.

Having realised that domestic efforts are insufficient to win the fake drugs war the Agency enlisted the assistance of World Health Organisation (WHO) with a view to garnering the desired international support to achieve the needed victory. The WHO established an international catalyst tagged: International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeit Task Force (IMPACT) and appointed the NAFDAC boss as vice-chairman.

The agency’s synergy with the international community paid off as exemplified by the recent interception of a consignment of counterfeited  multi-million naira worth of anti-malaria drugs at a Lagos port.  The culprits were apprehended in China because of the assistance of both the international police(INTERPOL) and the United States Federal Drug Agency(USFDA) in collaboration with the Indian and Chinese High Commissions.

Recently, a collaborative team comprising operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, NAFDAC,Pharmacist Council of Nigeria as well as the Consumer Protection Council made an unscheduled inspection of acclaimed corporate pharmacies at Ikoyi and Victoria Island areas of Lagos State in an operation code named “Operation Cobra”. INTERPOL had prior to the exercise, organised a two-day workshop on capacity building and training   for these operatives to prepare them for the operation.

NAFDAC’s success story is not without its difficulties. It took bloody confrontations, harassment, molestation of NAFDAC operatives  and outright destruction of the agency’s operational vehicles by the drug barons before it was achieved.

The success story of NAFDAC will remain a resounding one. Every Nigerian must understand that the consumption of every fake drug or food takes him closer to his grave.

Ikhilae,is a Lagos- based Public Affairs analyst.

Martins Ikhilae