Sanction awaits importers of fake drugs

Dark times near for importers and dealers of fake and substandard medicines as the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye confirmed that the government through various partnership with pre-shipment agents in China and India will clamp down on the illegal activities of this persons.

The move is part of the agency’s efforts to take the war against importation of illicit drugs to the source countries.

Prof Adeyeye said: “Safeguarding the health of Nigerians means making sure that all regulated products that NAFDAC is in charge of have the expected quality.

“This means ensuring robust control of the manufacture, the distribution, the advertisement, the sale and the use of these products, using international standards, in line with our mandate,” The Nations said.


The agency chief spoke in Abuja on: NAFDAC And Your Health, ahead of Nigeria’s 60th Independence Anniversary.

Prof. Adeyeye noted that 70 per cent of the medicines used in Nigeria are imported while only 30 per cent are produced locally.

She said drugs used in Nigeria are mostly from China and India, adding: “NAFDAC is now going to the source to ensure that we do pre-shipment analysis.”

On the agency’s efforts to give Nigerians standard medicines, Prof. Adeyeye said: “Let me emphasise that promotion of local manufacturing has been premium on my priority list. This is to reverse the trend of 30 per cent locally manufactured drug products toward 70 per cent.

“It is not just that we are getting stricter on the ones overseas, we are getting stricter by using global best practices on the local manufacturing companies as well. For local companies, we check their products randomly. If a product manufacturing line does not meet the standards, we shut the line down until they meet these standards and specifications before they can begin to operate the line again.”