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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has promised that the vaccines that would be produced in Nigeria would meet global standard.
The Agency said the recent Maturity Level 3 certification that was issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) is an indication that it has the capacity including manpower to produce vaccines of global standard.
A statement from the Agency indicated that NAFDAC Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, made the pledge during the oversight visit to the NAFDAC facilities and COVID-19 laboratory projects in Lagos by the House of Representatives Committee on COVID-19.
She assured Nigerians that the Agency is strongly commitment to safeguarding to the health of Nigerians through strong monitoring and supervision of drugs and other consumables.
She described the Federal government’s huge spending on the fight against COVID-19 as exemplified by the construction of the new COVID-19 laboratory, equipped with modern instruments and amenities at the Agency as a wake-up call for the country.
She noted with dismay that the health sector had been hitherto neglected before the Federal Government’s response through the COVID-19 Committees of the National Assembly.
She advocated strengthening the regulatory responsibilities of the Agency so that much result could be achieved.
She said: “If the regulatory agency is not strengthened, the industry will not be strengthened. We have the African free trade agreement already here with us now for the nation’s pharmaceutical industry to take advantage of with quality products.
“There will be a lot of competition and if NAFDAC’s laboratory is not strengthened, we would not be able to compete.”
