NAFDAC seeks governors’ support to curb drug abuse, others

Oyo govt promises to partner agency
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has solicited the support all the 36 state governors in a bid to safeguard the future of Nigerians against fake drugs, drug abuse and processed foods that have been cutting short life expectancy of the citizenry.

Director-General, NAFDAC, Prof. (Mrs.) Mojisola Adeyeye, stated this yesterday during a courtesy visit to Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, in his office at Agodi, Ibadan, the state capital.

The DG, who was accompanied by top officials of the agency in the South-West Zone, comprising Mr. Bolakale Ayinde, Acting Director, South-West Zone Directorate; Mr. Francis Oluwole, Co-ordinator of NAFDAC in Oyo State and his counterparts from Osun, Ogun, Ondo and Ekiti states, requested for a befitting place for the agency’s office and operation vehicles from Oyo State government.

But Makinde said the state would look into the request and get back to the agency.

Meanwhile, Makinde has expressed the readiness of the state to partner with NAFDAC to ensure food and drugs are secured in the state.

He noted that it is good for the state to partner with the agency for the well-being and healthy living of the people in the state.

Adeyeye said that it was imperative for the state to support NAFDAC to ensure protection of lives of people against illicit drugs and dangerous processed foods.

The NAFDAC boss, who listed tramadol and codeine as drugs destroying the future of Nigerian youths and have also been found to imbue terrorism, raised the alarm that many Nigerians do not pay attention to what they eat on many occasions.

She said that tramadol and codeine usually found their ways to Nigeria through the ports and for seven years, 2011-2018, NAFDAC was removed from the ports, which probably made the controlled drugs to find their ways to the country in copious quantities.

“I never knew that I would come home from abroad and start battling tramadol and codeine that have destroyed so many young lives. Nigeria can never be greater than its youths. If we don’t think of our youths and control access to drugs, we may not have tomorrow because drugs change the brain, and will not allow it to function well. If the brain does not function well, the home will not function well, and if the home does not function well, the workplace will not function well,” she said.

“However, NAFDAC is bigger than the ports. We are in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. This is why we need the help of our governors because we cannot do this alone,” she said.