Adedoyin Adewumi
Drugs and food counterfeiting is a worldwide problem and Nigeria is not exempt from this menace. The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) was created in 1994 as an agency to regulate and control the importation, exportation, manufacture, advertisement, distribution, sale and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, bottled water and chemicals in Nigeria.
The agency is also to conduct appropriate tests and ensure compliance with standard specifications designated and approved including the undertaking of appropriate investigations into the production premises and raw materials for food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, bottled water and chemicals and establish relevant quality assurance systems, including certificates of the production sites and of the regulated products.
The formation of NAFDAC was inspired by a 1988 World Health Assembly resolution requesting countries’ help in combating the global health threat posed by counterfeit pharmaceuticals. On January 1, 1994 NAFDAC was officially established as a “parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Health”.
NAFDAC replaced an earlier Federal Ministry of Health body, the Directorate of Food and Drug and Control, which had been deemed ineffective, partially because of lack of laws concerning fake drugs. The most prominent of its Director Generals have been the late Professor Dora Akinyuli and Dr. Paul Orhii.
Professor Dora Nkem Akunyili was appointed the Director General by former president Olusegun Obasanjo on April 11, 2001. She was at the helm of affairs for seven and half years. She came on board at a time the life of the organization was ebbing, having been rendered comatose by the suffocating rot it was enmeshed in. Nigerians were in danger due to the preponderance of counterfeit drugs and products in the market, as some drugs were nothing more than sugar syrup and chalk tablets. A survey conducted with the World Health Organization (WHO) found more than half the drugs on sale in Nigeria were either fake or sub-standard.
Nigeria’s hospitals were using fake and contaminated drips, surgeons were using fake adrenalin to re-start the heart, and anesthetists were giving sub-strength muscle relaxant to patients in their operating theatres.
The DG herself had lost a sister to the menace of fake drugs. While at NAFDAC, Dora waged a vigorous battle against manufacturers and importers of counterfeit drugs, food, drink etc. She did all that within her power as DG to carry out her reforms.
She destabilized the industry by enforcing stringent measures and control. She stemmed the flow and funnel of counterfeit drugs. She policed the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of the counterfeit drug trade. She initiated quality control standards for the industry with bar code and seal of NAFDAC approval on labels of drugs and processed foods made in Nigeria. She introduced the registration of all drugs and controlled substances sold and consumed in Nigeria, with codes assigned to them. Going to their sources, Prof. Akunyili instituted well organized pre-shipment checks for drugs except those designated with universal registration status.
Akunyili created new and relevant departments that followed up on the integrity of drugs right from conception through production, distribution and dispensing, thereby strengthening the apparatus of operation of NAFDAC. She also initiated massive public enlightenment campaigns employed to educate the lay men and women who usually were the victims of some of the fake products. The woman went as far as shutting down the open air medicine market in Kano for three months after her officers confiscated £140,000 worth of fake drugs. With a new team of inspectors and pharmacists, NAFDAC prosecuted importers of fake drugs and hit them hard, till the point the counterfeiters fought back, burning the NAFDAC head office and even threatening the DG’s life. According to reports, when fake drugs peddlers started having it rough in Nigeria, they extended their tentacles to other West African nations, thus creating another problem. NAFDAC, with the aid of other regulatory agencies in West Africa instituted the West African Drug Regulatory Authority Network (WADRAN). The platform was created for the sharing of ideas and peer reviews so as to tackle criminals that deal in fake and adulterated drugs frontally.
Following her appointed as a cabinet minister in 2008, Dr. Paul Orhii, who is the current DG was appointed. Orhii, a cousin of controversial former Nigeria Attorney General, Michael Aondoakaa was appointed in equally controversial circumstances as the boss of NAFDAC in 2009.
In 2011, Orhii introduced the popular Mass Authentication Service (MAS) Truscan technology that enables consumers to enter twelve digit numbers and send same to a dedicated number via Short Message Service (SMS), which confirms the genuineness of the product they have purchased. This has been of tremendous benefit to the people regarding the authentication of drugs they are about to consume.
Under Orhii, NAFDAC came to be ranked among the top 20 food and drug regulatory agencies in the world. The Agency has made seizures and destroyed counterfeit products worth billions as well as prosecute offenders and built on the legacy of Dora.
Unfortunately, Orhii’s tenure has been enmeshed in allegations that have smeared his tenure. There are numerous accusations of fraudulent activities like frivolous contract awards and supplies. For instance there have been allegations of inflation of the contract for supply and installation of furniture to NAFDAC office in Isolo, Lagos awarded to a company referred to as Cherrywood by about N190 million; illegal withdrawal of N400m; manipulated publicity efforts through spending of N4 billion for fictitious publicity in a space of three years; frivolous donations; international air travel racketeering; extortion, compulsory recertification by bottle and sachet water producers and so on.
There is also the issue of the breach of civil service rules as well, which is currently being investigated by the Senate. The former Finance Director of the Agency, Ademola Mogbojuri who has been redeployed alleged that the director general has been financially reckless because despite huge increase in revenue generation, which increased from N2.5bn when Orhii was appointed to about N9bn by late 2015, the Agency is in debt to a tune of N5bn. Part of this debt is the N1.4bn in remittances due to the Federal Government.
The Senate also recently berated the director general over breaching civil service rules by appointing a junior deputy director, Mrs. Veronica Ezeh, ahead of Mrs. Esther Amuta as temporary Head/Deputy Director for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Directorate.
In a reaction to Magbojuri’s allegations, chairman of the NAFDAC’s workers’ union, Isa Ibrahim accused the former finance director himself of always demanding bribes before releasing funds and had no regard for the DG or any constituted authority.
Orhii defended himself by saying the law establishing the agency made it possible to generate funds and also spend them on different programmes and projects called “user fees” and that such monies spent cannot be remitted into federation accounts. He insisted that budgetary allocation made to the agency was not enough to run it, as the Federal Government only pays salaries of staff but the agency is run with internally generated revenue. He also cited some of the projects the funds have been used for including construction of Isolo, Lagos office, construction of an agro-laboratory, a drug laboratory in Yaba, Lagos, and an enforcement office in Apapa, Lagos. Others are rebuilding of the Kaduna office, which was burnt in 2004 and the near completion of an office in Port-Harcourt. The DG said the Agency also acquired six hectares of land in Benue, which has been fenced with a borehole, against claims the land does not exist. On the accusation that he had spent frivolously on media campaigns, Orhii claimed that talk is not cheap. He backed up his defense with the fact that NAFDAC airs its programs every week on four television stations and these do not come cheap.
On appointment, the NAFDAC boss said the choice was made because of Ezeh’s specialisation in food science and technology and quality assurance and also because of the desire of the Agency to comply with the June 2016 European Union Market (EUM) deadline. The European Union gave a deadline of June 16 2016 for Nigeria to have a risk management system in place for the reduction of contaminants in food export, or face International market ban.
This did not cut ice with the Senate, which maintained that seniority is recognized in the public service in Nigeria and that Mrs. Ezeh could have effectively assisted Mrs. Amuta, while both of them awaited the appointment of a substantive director. Though the issue was referred to the Ethics Committee of the Senate for further investigation before a final position would be taken, an attempt by Economic Confidential to get the view of Mrs. Amuta on the case did not yield result as she was not available to air her own part of the story when we visited her office.
Meanwhile, the manner in which NAFDAC handled the issue of Chocolate Royale remained a puzzle to many members of the public. The restaurant was raided by officials of NAFDAC in May 2015 because the company was using long expired products in the manufacturing of its confectionaries. When the Director of Special Duties, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh was contacted after the restaurant was re-opened a little over a month when it was shut down, he said investigations were still ongoing but the re-opening was allowed because NAFDAC considered the fact that an indefinite shut down would affect the staff who eke their living from the business and also taxes accrued to the government. Yet, NAFDAC slammed a fine of N1bn on Guinness Nigeria Plc for what would pass as a lesser infraction.
It must be added however, that an unofficial source hinted that the Chocolate Royale issue had been concluded even before it was reopened. The source said the company was fined an undisclosed amount and that compliance directives were issued to them as well, which Chocolate Royale complied with. The source also said products discovered by the Agency were destroyed and a letter of commitment agreeing Chocolate Royale will not run afoul of existing Agency’s rules signed as well. When asked if there were prosecutions of culprits, the source said since there were no complaints of deaths involved, Chocolate Royale was appropriately sanctioned even though the details were not made public.
Regarding the invitation of the DG for questioning by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the outcome of the interrogation has not been made public. Perhaps, investigation into the matter was yet to be concluded.
