By Doris Obinna
The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has pledged to cut imports of pharmaceutical products by 70 per cent assuring that local manufacturing of pharmaceutical ingredients will aid the production of quality medicine.
Speaking at a workshop titled, “Sustainable healthcare development: Workshop on local manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients and excipients,” in Lagos, the Director-General, NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed that over dependence on importation of drug or food is a sign of insecurity to any country.
“The drive for NAFDAC since my first tenure is to ensure that the 70 per cent of products that we import will change the paradigm and narratives to about 30 per cent of import so that we can manufacture about 70 per cent locally.
“COVID-19 pandemic taught us a bitter lesson because there was hoarding of pharmaceutical products. I don’t blame the pharmaceutical companies because why are we not having our own high level of local manufacturing,” she queried?
“So that reminded us again that it is important for us to manufacture at least a lot of what we need locally.”
While stressing that the quality of APIs directly impacts quality of the final product, she said, “Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) is as good as the product from which they are made. If the API is bad from the beginning or poor, the drug product will be poor.
“Substandard APIs could not only compromise the effectiveness of medicines, but also pose serious risks to public health, potentially damaging vital organs such as the kidney, liver and heart.”
Also, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, who was represented by deputy director in the Federal Ministry of Health, Mrs. Omolara Oderinde, said, the country has to align according to national drug policy as 70 per cent of pharmaceuticals are imported.
The Chairman, House Committee on Food and Drug Administration, Mrs. Regina Akume, represented by Hon Emeka Obiajulu, said, NAFDAC is a creation of an Act of the Parliament established by the decree laws of the federation.
According to him, NAFDAC as a regulatory agency in Nigeria is responsible for ensuring the safety, quality and efficiency of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices and chemicals.
“The legislature and, especially, Nigeria’s National Assembly comprises the senate and the house of representatives and its primary responsibility includes law making, amending and repealing as well as ensuring that resources are efficiently allocated and utilised as one of the three primary branches of government in a democratic system.”