The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned that Nigeria is in serious danger of drug insecurity; as it heavily relies on imported drugs for the treatment and consumption of her populace.
Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, while addressing a press conference on the host of the Third African Medicine Quality Forum (AMQF) meeting by Nigeria, said the agency seized and destroyed N1.3 trillion worth of drugs last year.
The NAFDAC DG pointed out that despite the financial difficulties of the agency in the past few years, it has been on a steady move, adding that agency has successfully paid N3.2 billion debt she met when she took over the management of the organisation.
Adeyeye, who said the NAFDAC would be hosting the continental meeting between 24 and 28 February, in Abuja also warned that most of the sex-enhancing drugs are killer drugs.
She stated that outbreak of diseases, such as the current Coronavirus, officially named COVID-19, in China, puts the country in grave danger of drug insecurity, adding that Nigeria imports 70 per cent of her medicines and other active and non-active ingredients.
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Prof Adeyeye said: “70 per cent of our drugs are imported and the alarm I am sounding now is one everybody should take seriously. We have drug insecurity because of the Coronavirus.
“India is already feeling it because they buy most of their materials and active ingredients from China. If India is feeling it, we should start praying because we don’t manufacture anything here except water; we import almost everything – active and non-active ingredients, equipment etc.
“So, it is a scary thing, and I have been emphasising this from day one. We need drug security. Since we import 70 per cent of our drugs, then, we are in trouble if such things happen.”
She warned Nigerians to desist from cooking their foods with paracetamol, especially the use of the drug to soften meats; adding that using paracetamol to cook can destroy kidney.
The NAFDAC DG said: “When paracetamol is subjected to heat while cooking with it, it changes to para-aminophenol and benzoquinone, which destroys the kidneys. We have done a lot of enlightenment because the major problem of our people is ignorance and illiteracy.
“We haven’t made any arrest because to do that we will need to test the pots of soup containing these substances at our office. Another reason is because we are short-staffed, but I think the government is doing something about this.”
She stressed the need for the agency to embark on serious awareness but stated that it needed funds to achieve this, adding also that the agency was short of staff.
Prof Adeyeye said the agency has managed to pay N3.2 billion debt he met when she came in.
Concerning enforcement against peddlers of falsified and substandard medicines, Prof Adeyeye said the agency is collaborating with the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), especially in markets that are not approved or those known for substandard medicines.
She added that the agency seized and destroyed N1.3 trillion worth of drugs last year as part of their efforts to enforce the standard.
Prof Adeyeye also explained that the agency is in talks with online stores like Jumia, and will continue to mount pressure on them to make sure that any advertiser that want to sell medicine products on their platforms, must have been registered with PCN.
She said: “Part of our global benchmarking is to have qualitative laboratories with well-trained staff. We have been equipping our laboratories on a daily basis in terms of making sure that whatever we test or we want to test, we have equipment for them, and that our tests are reliable. We have five ISO-accredited laboratories; however, we want the central drug laboratory to be World Health Organization (WHO) pre-qualified.”
According to her, the AMQF is a Technical Working Group of African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization (AMRH), with the goal to build and strengthen the capacity of African countries in medicines quality control and regional post-marketing surveillance which in turn, will contribute significantly to reducing sub-standard and falsified medical products in circulation in African markets.
She explained that the meeting will convene all members of the AMQF including its Technical Committee (TC), leadership from USP, AUDA-NEPAD, WHO, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Regional Health Organisations (RHOs) as well as other partners and key stakeholders.
