NAFDAC DG reiterates need to safeguard Nigerians’ health

The Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye has said the organisation is committed to safeguarding the health of Nigerians, as it is charged with the responsibility to regulate and control the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, bottled and packaged water and chemicals, generally referred to as regulated products.

She said In line with the ease of doing business, the agency created the Small Business Support Desk (SBSD), whose function is to facilitate registration processes for micro and small business operators through engagements such as Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Clinics, exhibitions, NAFDAC product registration outreach (NaPRO).

She explained that the first milestone decision made by the Agency on MSMEs is the 50 per cent reduction in tariff for registration processing, which has led to an increased number of applicants coming forward.

The DG made this known recently in Lagos at its programme titled guidelines for registration of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) regulated products held at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos. She said the laboratory analysis of MSME products are expeditiously treated with utmost urgency. She said: “The outcome has been very satisfying, as it has helped the Agency to arrive at an improved official timeline for MSME registration at 90 days. Sometimes, NAFDAC has been able to meet the timeline in about 60 days.

“For the ease of the MSME products exportation, the Agency has reviewed the guidelines, such that applicants can make submission at the NAFDAC Zonal Offices and processed at the Ports Inspection Directorate (PID) within a timeline of 28 working days. This is believed to enhance business and generate foreign exchange in the Nigerian economy.

“We are fully embracing institutional regulatory reforms for sustainability and are entrenching a Quality Management System (QMS) that is making our staff to think of the customer first in all its operations. This has led to certification on ISO 9001:2015 obtained on June 7 2019. Being a customer-focused, Agency-minded business strategy, the goal has resulted in continuous improvement in overall performance in order to provide a stable foundation for entrenching a quality culture within the scope of our activities”.

“To increase efficiency we have embraced fully the deployment and use of ICT in our operations. Our website has been revamped to increase transparency, and we will continue to strive to build a more robust ICT platforms. We have enhanced our communication mode with the use of more secured emails, with all staff activating their official NAFDAC email to ease communication with you our esteemed stakeholders, as well as fostering internal communication.”

Adeyeye said decentralisation of registration of certain regulated products commenced in April 2018 to make approvals at the zonal levels more effective and easily realisable for MSMEs businesses.

“This has been made possible after the creation of six Zonal, Lagos and FCT Offices, all headed by Directors. In order to maximise the competencies of staff and overall output, some staff were transferred to man these offices with input from the respective directors…”