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By Doris Obinna and Henry Uche
Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and Assembly of Healthcare Professionals Association (AHPA) have accused the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of escalating prices of drugs and other regulated products.
They, in view of this have passed a vote of no confidence on the Director General, Professor Moji Adeyeye, declaring her incompetent and inexperienced.
In an official letter addressed to the President, Bola Tinubu, its National Secretary, Matthew Ajurotu, said the escalating cost of drugs, foods and other regulated products in the country were as a result of the DG’s highhandedness coupled with anti-people policies, which have inflicted hardship and bad fortune on Nigerians, who find it increasingly difficult to have access to affordable and efficacious drugs in line with the objectives and targets of the National Drug Policy.
Some of the unsound policies according to them are: A recent policy paper issued by NAFDAC on the quality of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) used in the manufacture of Finished Pharmaceutical Products (FPPs) for the Nigerian market; Payment of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) tariffs by importers; Selective and discriminatory sanctions through payment of arbitrary sums of monies for violations in the pharmaceutical value chain and a declaration of 50 per cent fake products in circulation in Nigeria.
“Some stakeholders warned in 2021 that this inglorious policy would raise drug prices in huge quantum. NAFDAC is currently one of the top 5 Government agencies which sends money to the Government treasury, which may be satisfactory to scurry favour at Government level but is definitely a destroyer of the Pharma Industry and facilitator of rapid deaths among Nigerians who cannot afford the hike in drug pricing occasioned by the recklessness Adeyeye forces us to contend with.”
They added that NAFDAC boss has continued to march on the pharma eco-space of the sector like a tyrant who does not consult other stakeholders with regards to the policy thrust of the Agency.
“Rather than drive holistic processes which will impact the landscape, what NAFDAC specializes in is to over-regulate pharma players who are compliant in the context that they are registered to practice by the appropriate regulatory agency.
“NAFDAC has imposed fines ranging from N2.5m to N5m on alleged violations by Registered pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria, when rather embarrassingly, it has not dealt decisive blows on unregistered pharmaceutical premises or any hospital facility in both the public and private sectors.
“It is worrisome if not shameful that no hospital facility especially at private sector level has ever been held accountable by the Adeyeye -led NAFDAC in the last six years, yet these facilities carry drug stock of all shades irrespective of whether they are registered or not by NAFDAC.”
The aggrieved group maintained that if there are woes at NAFDAC, it is caused by the system Adeyeye has entrenched with the depth of poor human relationship management, which have been at a climax in once-upon-a-time towering agency built by the pioneer DG, Prof. Gabriel Osuide and his successor, late Prof. Dora Akunyuli who really excelled on the same beat before Dr. Paul Orhii contributed his modest output to building NAFDAC.
“JOHESU/AHPA demands an urgent redress of the aberrations at NAFDAC by ordering an immediate systems audit of the NAFDAC affairs with a view to halting the unquenchable excesses of the DG in the public interest. We will work with the FG in fast-tracking sustainable reforms that will compel reduction in drug prices through acceptable norms and modalities.”
