We’ve sustained Akunyili’s legacy by wiping out fake drugs, says NAFDAC

National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) yesterday said it has sustained the legacy of the late Prof. Dora Akunyili by working towards drug security in Nigeria.

The director-general, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, at a media briefing to mark the 25th anniversary of the agency in Abuja, noted that NAFDAC was able to seize 23 containers of Tramadol worth about N198 billion last year.

According to her, the celebration is to enable the agency “look back to see what we have learnt in the past 25 years.”She said, “Dr. Akunyili was zealous in the fight against substandard drugs. We have continued on that. What is more important for these 25 years is almost like closing the loop of legacy. We are setting a much stronger foundation for NAFDAC to exist for decades to come, so that it will take a genius to destroy it.”Adeyeye stressed that the agency was working towards ensuring that local drug manufacturers were able to sell their products globally.

“So, we are doing things that will position NAFDAC as an agency to compete globally.“Our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), when it comes to pharmaceutical manufacturing, is low. Our goal is to improve the GDP.“We are pursuing improvement of local manufacturing to make sure we don’t have drug insecurity. We are changing so many policies,” she added.

On the improvement of service rendered by the agency, the NAFDAC DG said: “Based on our current process, if you submit an application for food, by 90 days your application should get to the final stage and you will be notified whether it is approved or not; unless there is a problem in the middle. If it is drug, it is 120 days. We are not there yet, but we are 10 times better than where we were nine months ago.

“We are laying a foundation that others after me can build on to benefit this country.“We now do e-registration. We have 200 companies that have signed on already.”The anniversary celebration was preceded by a health walk by workers of the agency and tree planting by the DG.