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Prof. Moji Adeyeye, Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has made a strong case for local production of drugs, foods and other products in order to promote economic stability and self-sufficiency.
Adeyeye, who spoke at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja, said local production is key to boosting the country’s Gross Domestic Product
“It is not about what we eat but what we can trade to increase our Gross Domestic Product to stop emigration, also known as Japa syndrome. If we don’t industrialise, we will continue to beg.”
Adeyeye, who reaffirmed her commitment to raising the standard of local production, said quality had the potential to engender confidence on the part of producers and consumers.
“If we are using international standards for our products, that means you and I can sleep well.”
Adeyeye, who commended President Bola Tinubu for encouraging local content, said NAFDAC devised its 5+5 policy to promote local production.
The 5+5 policy involves migration of previously imported products that can be manufactured locally to local manufacturing after the last renewal of five years post effective date of Regulatory Directive (RD) date.
Adeyeye also called for national restraint to frivolities that had continued to deplete the country’s resources.
She identified attitudinal change as a critical element required to attain national glory.
“Nigeria should learn not to owe money. We should learn how to deny ourselves certain frivolities. We have not taught ourselves how to be ashamed. We use God flippantly as if God does not know we are deceiving ourselves,” she said
She also declared support for herbal medicine production in the country.
She, however, explained that for NAFDAC to accommodate herbal medicine as part of its regulated products, such herbal preparation must go through clinical trials.
She disclosed that the major challenge to herbal medicine practitioners is how to secure resources to finance clinical trials for their products, which she said cost a lot of money because it is a major aspect in medicine.
“I believe in natural medicine, I was brought up with it, like the Agbo that we were taking and it was working.
“Herbal medicine or natural medicine work, before I came back home from the United States, I started a research on natural medicine for the cure of sickle cell, my niece who is a sickler got on it and her episodes decreased by 70 to 80 per cent.”
She explained that the agency gives approval for natural medicines once proven it is not toxic, and they have been used and tested before.
“We approve them for two years and then they can renew if they do clinical trials because it is something we are not used to in Nigeria.
“China supports many of these herbal practitioners.”
The director-general also spoke about using fruits and vegetables as medicine to cure some illnesses, adding that some of these fruits contain antioxidants that prevent cancer.
The agency warned bakeries across the country against using saccharin and bromate in bread production.
She said bakeries caught in the act would face the full consequences.
“This is where our post marketing surveillance comes in. We go out routinely to look for certain products; sometimes it may be due to complaints through our reform office. We have closed down a few bakeries because they are using bromate during bread production. If we find out, or someone suspects or tasted the bread and it has bromate, we will shut the bakery down.
“We have equally closed down many water producing factories as a result of substandard production or producing it in an unhygienic environment. Our Regulatory Inspection Directorate is important to us because it ensures that what is brought to us at the point of registration is what is still in the market.
“When we do an inspection at the beginning, we go there and take samples and test the product. Sometimes after they know that the product has been registered, they start changing the process of production or formulae. This is why post marketing surveillance monitoring is very important. It ensures that what they brought to us is still what is in the market in order to maintain standard. That is what is called market control.”
She added: “If a product is too cheap, it is very likely that it is not good,” she said.
Adeyeye also called for more intelligence reports about counterfeit products to tackle the problem, saying the agency alone cannot do it, stressed the need for support from Nigerians.
“We cannot be everywhere, we need information about such products’ availability in communities.
“If you inform us about such products, we will be there within an hour or maximum two hours, we have done that several times, where we get intelligence.
“If found to have truly violated the law, we will shut the company immediately. We, therefore, call on the public to call our helpline on 080-162-3322 for any information.
“People can also get to us via Email:[email protected] or report to the nearest NAFDAC office or through E-reporting platforms available on NAFDAC website –www.nafdac.gov.ng.
“Nigerians can also report via the Med-safety application available for download on Android and IOS stores or via Email on: [email protected].”
The NAFDAC boss said through an intelligence report, a lot had been done locally, adding that any company found short of the agency’s rules and regulations on standard would be shut.
She said that such a company would remain shut until it finds corrective measures.
“We have shut many companies, and from the higher up, they call me but I say no, we cannot open them, but let them quickly do what we asked them to do, we are for business. We have, however, shut a few companies permanently.
“We are now higher up in terms of the use of technology to confirm substandard products, especially drugs, called GS 1 track and trace mechanism.”
She further explained that consumers could scan the barcode on drug packets to know where they are from, when it was manufactured, when it will expire.
“We have also digitised package leaflets, usually inside some products; with a scanner, you can download electronic information which patients or consumers can also read to know more about a product.”
She said that Nigerians could use their phones to get information about a product by scanning the barcode and that could also be done through the use of an App.
