'We have only 2,000 staff for 250 million people - NAFDAC boss cries out says agency is understaffed

Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control says the agency is understaffed and unable to manage the influx of fake products into the country.

Prof Adeyeye made this known in an interview on Channels TV on Wednesday, December 20.

She made the comment in defense of her outfit which has been heavily criticised over the influx of fake products in the Nigerian market.

"Unfortunately, in Nigeria, we have porous borders and what is happening and what we are fighting is a reflection of what is going on in the society. Nigeria has gone through a hard time over the last two years - very hard economic times so when people are being sold cheap things, they do question it," she said.

"So it is a combination of many factors, we do our work very well if we don't publicize what we have just done, everybody will be getting ready for Christmas and care too much about what they buy and where they buy it from."

"The short answer is that NAFDAC worked very well but we need more staff. It was a vigil what happened last week on the part of some of our staff and myself. We have only 2,000 staff for a population of 215,000,000."

Nigerians, through the X platform in the last 48 hours, have reeled out their experiences with fake products across Nigerian markets.

A popular social media user, Somto Okonkwo, raised the alarm about the circulation of fake rice in the country before the yuletide season.

“Fake Rice In Circulation: Watch out for the kind of rice you’re buying this festive season in Nigeria. There are so many fake products out there. Stay safe,” he posted on the X platform.

Also, Japheth Omajuwa, a public analyst, said the country is losing lives to things that have no business killing people.

According to him, there are more incentives to break the law in Nigeria, and the system appears to punish those who stick by the rules.