Business

NAFDAC And Dignity For Herbal Products

Published

10 years ago

June 25, 2014

Notaby, just as the glo
bally detested fake, substandard and counterfeited pharmaceutical products are very harmful and highly destructive to human health, so also are traditional /herbal products of similar status. Indeed, the Nigeria alternative medicine market is in dire need of modern sophistications, dynamic development and critical overhaul for global competitive practice in the sector.
Historically, the use of medicinal herbal products in the curing and prevention of numerous diseases and ailments is ancient in practice. However, the emergence of western civilisation brought in its wake, orthodox or modern medical practice.
Despite the various enormous technological and scientific sophistications that have characterized this mode of medication, it could be simply considered as an improvement on the aged traditional and ancient approach to medicine practice.
Such is its dependability and effectiveness in both curative and preventive medicine practice that the usage of herbs for medication purpose is maximally acknowledged and embraced globally particularly in Britain, United States of America, Germany, India, China etc.
It is in this regard that Nigeria, a highly revered Giant in the Africa continent has expressed outright unwillingness to be shoved aside as the world progressively tilts towards blending modern with traditional /herbal cum alternative medicine in an attempt to proffer varieties of suitable medications for the avalanche of deadly diseases which abounds in all the nooks and crannies of the world.
Apparently, this explains the current posture of Government in this regard through the Dr Paul B.Orhii led National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) .
Undoubtedly, Indeginous herbal preparations or mixtures emanates from the blending of plants medicinal properties such as flowers, bark, leaves ,roots, berries, seeds, fruits etc .
The end products which could be in form of dry extracts {ie capsules or pills},tinctures ,liquid extracts, oil, syrups, teas etc are used for the treatment of various ailments and diseases.
They are equally termed as alternative ,complimentary or supplementary in medicine practice and therefore not alien.
In Nigeria, for instance, the ancient/traditional and seeming hereditary nature of its practice over the years seems to have encouraged its massive infiltration by quacks, illiterates and saboteurs who are merely masquerading as herbal experts.
More embarrassing is the unsubstantiated and non-verified effectiveness , efficacy and potency claims ascribed to herbal products by marketers such that users are misled to believe that a single product can cure a retinue of diseases including AIDS,HIV while at the same time boost sexual libido etc
Some herbal practitioners and marketers have resorted to unauthorised, desperate and highly insincere means of advertisement in a deliberately calculated attempt to fraudulently garner mass patronage from unsuspecting buyers including using NAFDAC numbers as a guarantee for their claimed herbal products efficacy and reliability.
These obnoxious practices has in turn made herbal medicine practice an all comer affair with an attendant negative consequence on the innocent consumers.
As a legally authorised healthcare regulator, the onus of sieving the grains from the shafts rest on NAFDAC which is determined to bring to bear on the sector outright sanity through thorough examination and standardization of the various processes, preparations and products culminating into effective and efficient herbal medicine practice.
It is in this regard that the agency has evolved modernised scientific techniques to adequately regulate and promote herbal products manufacturing and marketing with a view to according it due relevance through proper repositioning for outright acceptability both locally and internationally.
NAFDAC is indeed determined to ensure that herbal medical products being put across to the public for use or consumption as a reliable means of medication are non poisonous{non-toxic},safe, non –complicative ,efficacious and are in accordance with globally acceptable /specified good manufacturing practice standards.
It is in an attempt to maximally guarantee safety for the human life ,that NAFDAC has urged all herbal medicine practitioners nationwide to henceforth forward mandatorily to it ,herbal preparations and products for a proper cum professionalised scientific and medical examination before being accorded a partial approval status known as NAFDAC Listing status which is not a guarantee on herbal products curative and preventive capacity or effectiveness efficacy which constitutes the first approval stage.
In the same vein permission/authorisation is to be compulsorily obtained from the agency by practitioners for their herbal products before being advertised for public acceptance and patronage in the mass media-Radio,T elevision, Newspapers, Magazines,Bill boards,Electronic boards, etc.This is believed will entrench sanity in herbal products advertisement.
Similarly ,the agency is putting in place a dynamic second and final herbal products approval phase which comprise scientific based herbal products efficacy/effectiveness verification mechanism which will involve series of clinical trials.
To this end, a high powered committee comprising seasoned intellectuals and scientific egg heads duly sourced from both the academia universities and research agencies eg NIBRID has been constituted .
These medical and scientific Think-Tanks are to among other things, thoroughly examine, assess and consider herbal composition , preparations and products to ascertain efficacy status or where necessary ,recommend appropriate rectification measures.
They are also to unfold the nature of government support or assistance required to upgrade herbal medicine practice through herbal products development and standardisation to compete with international quality efficacy and safety output standards.
Furthermore, the agency has resolved not to rest on its oars as it has restrenthened its public enlightenment approaches and measures aimed at ensuring that herbal medicals are effectively and efficiently regulated thereby ensuring that they are safe for use.
Interestingly, the agency has remained consistent in the hosting and co-ordination of enlightenment and interactive workshops for herbal practitioners and other stakeholders in the sector in an attempt to adequately equip and update them with modern requirements/international best practices as well as standards and knowledge in the development and upliftment of the sector.
Obviously, the social, political and economic benefits accruable to a nation from the production and marketing of herbal products are indeed enormous.
Apart from boosting foreign exchange earnings, creating employment opportunities, dignifying our nation and herbal products,it will further empower government to provide social amenities,avail the citizenry a reliable alternative source of health care while helping to ensure that our pride as a progressively focused nation is maximally sustained through the production of standardised life saving herbal medical commodities to mention but a few of its advantages.
Ideally, herbal products ability and competence must be thoroughly substantiated through necessary laboratory analysis and other relevant medical experimentations for curative and preventive assurance before favourable public pronouncement can be made on such products capacity .
It is only by so doing that herbal medicine can be maximally and relevantly integrated into the Nation’s healthcare delivery system to provide the required complementary, supplementary or alternative role.
In all, the various numerous and scintillating advantages ascribable to embracing of herbal products could become outrightly elusive if adequate urgent measures are not adopted to regulate, control and standardise its production and administration such that only very competent persons who are knowledgeable in herbal medicine composition, preparation and use are allowed access to its practice which invariably, is the position of NAFDAC as it relates to herbal medicine practice.

Martins Ikhilae

Business

Fuel Scarcity: IPMAN threatens shutdown over bridging claims

Published

2 days ago

May 3, 2024

The Tide

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Depot Chairmen Forum, has exonerated its members from the current fuel scarcity in the country.

According to IPMAN, this is caused by its inability to source petroleum products.

The IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum also threatened to withdraw its services over non-payment of N200 billion bridging claims by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to its members, since 2022.

Alhaji Yahaya Alhassan, the Chairman, of the Forum said this while briefing newsmen in Abuja, yesterday.

Alhassan said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) was the sole importer of the product, but the marketers could not source products from NNPC Ltd. deport, rather from the private depots at high rate.

“We cannot buy fuel from the private depots at N950 and transport the product from Lagos to the North and other parts of the country with N2 million and still sell it at N900 or N1, 000.

“It is expedient for us to state that we are more pained by the non-availability of petroleum products in the country, which has given rise to another round of untold hardship for Nigerians.

“Contrary to claims that IPMAN members are hoarding Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as fuel, we would like to categorically state that PMS scarcity is wholly triggered by inability to get fuel from NNPC and not IPMAN,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, the NNPC Ltd. Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye said the disruption was due to logistical issues which had since been resolved.

“We currently have an availability of products exceeding 1.5 billion litres, which can last for at least 30 days. Unfortunately, we experienced a three-day disruption in distribution due to logistical issues, which has since been resolved.

“However, as you know, overcoming such disruptions typically requires double the amount of time to return to normal operations.

“Some folks are taking advantage of this situation to maximise profits. Thankfully, product scarcity has been minimal lately, but these folks might be exploiting the situation for unwarranted gain,’’ Soneye said.

He however, said the lines would clear out soon.

On the non-payment of bridging claims, the IPMAN forum said it was distressed and depressed by the laidback attitude of the NMDPRA towards the survival its member’s businesses, arising from its refusal in paying the claims.

“It is with deep frustration that we have assembled here today as the IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum. It is also disheartening to note that some of our members have completely shut down businesses and retrenched employees.

“As businessmen and women, our members acquired bank loans to keep their fuel retail outlets running on a daily basis across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria in order to serve the teeming population of Nigerians,’’ Alhassan said.

He recalled that Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), at a stakeholders meeting in February mandated the NMDPRA management to clear the entire debt in 40 days.

“However, today, we have crossed the 40 days’ time lapse given to the NMDPRA to clear the debt, and it is shameful to state that only the paltry sum of N13 billion has been paid, ignoring minister’s directive.

“We are not happy with the indiscriminate increment in the issuance and renewal of Sales and Storage Licence, by the NMDPRA, and the subsequent delays in acquiring the licence, which our members are recently subjected to.

“We are also calling on President Bola Tinubu to look into this unwholesome figure which is highly detrimental to our business and reverse it forthwith, as it is bound to impact negatively on the masses.

“We are poised to take far reaching decisions that may cripple the supply and sales of petroleum products across Nigeria if our demands are not met within the shortest period of time.

“We are collectively prepared to withdraw our services, shut down every single outlet, and suspend lifting of products forthwith till our demands are fully met, and the consequences will be terrible.

“We call on our members to however remain resolute and law abiding, even as we draw close to the immediate ultimatum for our demands to be met by the NMDPRA,’’ the chairman said.

Reacting to the IPMAN’s claims, the Acting Head, Corporate Communications, NMDPRA, Seiyefa Osanebi said the bridging claims payment was ongoing.

“The bridging claims payment is always an ongoing process,” she said.

Maritime

Shippers’ Council Registers 160 Port Operators

Published

6 days ago

April 29, 2024

The Tide

The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) says it has registered 160 Port stakeholders into its Regulated Port Service Provider and Users platform since the initiative began in 2023.
Executive Secretary, NSC, Mr Pius Akutah, made the disclosure on the sideline of a sensitisation programme by the commission for port operators in Lagos, with the theme, “Regulated Port Service Provider and Users”.
Represented by the Director, Consumer Affairs, Chief Cajetan Agu, Akutah emphasised the significance of the programme for stakeholders.
He said the sensitisation programme was the second edition after its commencement during the last quarter of 2023.
The Secretary said the 160 registered port operators consist of agencies, terminal operators, shipping companies, individual port users as well as service providers.
“We invited the ports stakeholders for enlightening them on the processes for online registration of Regulated Port Service Provider and Users.
“We have demonstrated to them how to register and how to make payment and we were able to present before them the various categories of the registration.
“The rate of payment is also in the registration. The payment of each group depends on the operation. A shipper pays N30,000, terminal operators and shipping companies pay N300,000, truckers also pay N30,000, while some pay N50,000 and N100,000.
“The Council was able to intimate them on the benefits, because port users benefit more as we help to interface on reducing port charges from time to time”, Akutah said.
He said that there was a need to continue to work with port operators to stop delays and eliminate high costs to make the port efficient.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director, Stakeholders, Service, NSC, Mr Celestine Akujobi, said “the sensitisation exercise was important for the council to enable us bring all the port stakeholders together”.
According to him, this is to avoid challenges during the implementation of the council’s responsibilities.
“By the time we introduce sanctions on defaulters, no operators will complain that he or she is not aware of the registration.
“I’m happy with the turnout of this sensitisation. This shows that the operators are well informed of the statutory friction of the council as the port regulator.
“The final implementation will commence as soon as we discover that all the operators have keyed into the portal.
“We are engaging other ports across the country and we’re hopeful that before the last quater of 2024, the council will implement sanctions on defaulting operators”, Akujobi said.
Earlier, Vice Chairman, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwards (NAGAFF), Dr Ifeanyi Emoh, said port challenges were enormous, adding that they originated from some of the government agencies.

Emoh urged the council to look into regulating other government agencies, so that there could be a window through which they can collect port charges collectively instead of indiscriminately.

By: Chinedu Wosu