The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has disclosed that it generated N2.5 billion from its recent nationwide enforcement operation targeting three major open drug markets in Idumota (Lagos), Aba (Abia), and Onitsha (Anambra).
Director-General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who revealed this during a session before the House of Representatives Committee on Food and Drug Administration and Control, said the funds were fines collected from traders found guilty of selling fake or substandard drugs during recent enforcement actions in open markets across the country.
Adeyeye, while stressing that all the funds were paid directly into NAFDAC’s official account, noted that N996 million was spent on enforcement operations, N159 million was borrowed from a donor grant, and N1.175 billion went to regulatory expenses.
According to her, the agency was left with about N206 million after deductions. She said the agency, which deployed over 1,300 security personnel, uncovered widespread violations, ranging from expired and unapproved drugs to poor storage practices.
The NAFDAC DG said the enforcement drive, which lasted up to four weeks in some locations, uncovered serious threats to public health. Besides, she said that some shop owners were caught distributing banned substances like Tramadol and selling expired or unregistered medicines.
She, however, lamented that the agency’s inability to sustain such critical operations is being crippled by severe revenue restrictions imposed by the Federal Government. Adeyeye, who decried the financial constraints facing the agency, said that at the end of 2023, NAFDAC had N19 billion in its accounts.
The DG, however, noted that N9 billion was removed before the agency could access it, and only N4.5 billion was eventually released. She spoke of the agency’s 2024 raid in Kano, describing the operation in the northwestern state as a monumental and court-mandated intervention that differed significantly from the raids conducted in Lagos, Onitsha, and Aba.
She said the Kano raid was anchored on a judgment delivered on February 16, 2024, by the Federal High Court, which ordered the relocation of open drug market traders to the newly constructed Coordinated Wholesale Centre (CWC), known as the Kanawa Pharmaceutical Centre. The DG, however, noted that post-marketing surveillance was carried out after relocation.
The director-general, while responding to lawmakers’ concerns that Kano traders were treated more leniently compared to the operations in the southern part of the country, said the agency followed due process, guided by the urgency of the court judgment and prevailing security risks.
Meanwhile, Director of Finance and Accounts, NAFDAC, Adeniji Nma, while clarifying the financial situation of the agency, said the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) had unilaterally classified NAFDAC as a revenue-generating agency and begun sweeping up to 50 per cent of all revenue inflows into the federal treasury.
