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By Biola Lawal
Abuja (Flowerbudnews): The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has called for synergy among relevant government agencies at the ports to ensure that only quality food products were exported from the country to Europe and America.

The Director General, NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, made the call at the official commissioning of the New NAFDAC Office complex for the Murtala Muhammed International Airport/NAHCO, Lagos.

Prof Adeyeye stressed that strengthening of collaboration between NAFDAC, Customs , DSS and others would curb the incidences of rejection of food exports from Nigeria in some European countries and the United States of America.

The NAFDAC Boss lamented that over 70 per cent of food exports from Nigeria are rejected abroad with huge financial losses to the exporters and the country at large.

A statement by the Resident Media Consultant to NAFDAC, Sayo Akintola, on Sunday, quoted the DG as saying that the deplorable state of export trade facilitation for regulated products leaving the country has continued to be a serious cause for concern for her Agency.

Prof Adeyeye said that a visit to NAFDAC Export warehouses within the international airport will explain unequivocally the major reason for the continuous rejection of Nigerian exports abroad.

She, however, noted that the Agency is responding to this great challenge by initiating a collaborative adventure with the government agencies at the Ports towards ensuring that goods are of requisite quality and meet the regulatory requirements of the importing countries and destinations before such are even packaged and hauled to the ports for shipment.

According to her, this raises the need for a more enhanced regulation of export – packaging, pre-shipment testing and certification to provide some quality assurance and to minimize rejects.

To save our national reputation in the international commerce, Prof Adeyeye called on all stakeholders in the export trade to see this as a call to duty and collaborate with NAFDAC for the sake of country and our collective future.

‘’The mandate to safeguard the health of the populace through ensuring that food, medicines, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals, and packaged water are safe, efficacious and of the right quality in an economy that is overwhelmingly dependent on importation of the bulk of its finished products and raw materials could never have been actualized without effective presence of NAFDAC at the ports and land borders’’, she said.

She recalled that this informed ‘’our push through the resilience of the past Director, Prof Samson Adebayo on assumption of duties, for the immediate return of NAFDAC to the ports that eventually happened in May 2018’’, stressing that ‘’with gratitude for the approval of the President and the various arms of the Government, the results of our presence at the ports are available for everyone to see’’.

She, however, commended the Nigeria Customs Service for the symbiotic relationship that exists between its management and the Agency, saying ‘’without customs, we will not be able to do a lot of what we have been able to do. The collaboration between Customs and NAFDAC is huge.

NAFDAC is a complex organization. We are scientific. We are police and we work with DSS. We work with Interpol and FBI because of the few stakeholders that are unscrupulous.

NAFDAC collaborates with Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Services, to ensure that due diligence is done because over 70 per cent of the products that leave our ports get rejected.

Considering the money spent on getting those products out of the country, it is a double loss for both the exporter and the country)’’.

‘’Without the police we cannot do much in terms of investigation and enforcement. We have over 80 policemen with us in NAFDAC. They help us a lot when we are doing raids or investigations as the case may be’’.

In pursuit of its mandate, she further explained that the Agency has embarked on the optimization and customization of its processes, stating that the Ports Inspection Data-Capture and Risk Management System (PIDCARMS) is presently deployed in all of the nation’s ports and land borders to automatically capture and process data for imported regulated products from the Nigeria Customs Information System (NICIS).

The DG said the Agency is also working assiduously with relevant stakeholders towards implementation of Traceability for pharmaceuticals in Nigeria.

She recalled that a Traceability Pilot was conducted successfully for COVID-19 Vaccines distribution and a scale-up is being done as soon as feasible, for medicines and other regulated products.

‘’The Traceability Information System was developed from PIDCARMS, which underscores the integrative system of NAFDAC. These efforts will further boost our regulatory oversight in monitoring the importation and distribution of medicines to ensure that spurious, substandard, and falsified (fake and counterfeit) products are minimized and are eventually blocked out from our supply chain’’.

‘’Similarly, our Post-marketing Surveillance initiatives that involve the Ports Inspection Directorate are gaining global recognition, and we intend to do much more for our nation, especially for future generations’’, she said.

She stated that the Agency has extended the frontiers of the fight against substandard products through the procurement of more Truscan devices to further boost on-spot checks for quality of products at the ports, shops, market spaces and anywhere else.

According to Prof. Adeyeye, NAFDAC as a customer-focused and Agency minded organization under her leadership has ‘’steadily engaged in improving service delivery in the course of carrying out its mandate as enshrined in the NAFDAC Act Cap N1 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004.

The act empowered NAFDAC to among others, regulate and control the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, chemicals, medical devices and packaged water (known as regulated products)’’.

She said these efforts have paid off as NAFDAC has recently been recognized as a world class regulator, with the conferment of the WHO ML3 Status and with continuous improvement of our processes and procedures progressing towards becoming a WHO Listed regulatory Authority (WLA) status to the satisfaction of our customers.

In a bid to deliver on its mandate in spite of the various challenges, she said ‘’we have spent the last few years of my first tenure in the onerous task of building new and upgrading obsolete infrastructure to make them befit to our status, and to provide a safe and comfortable working environment for our staff for maximum output’’.

The NAHCO Office Complex, according to Prof. Adeyeye, is one of the two facilities commissioned same day as part of her efforts to position the Agency as a global regulator that is fully equipped to undertake its regulatory oversight in compliance with Global best practices.

She had earlier in the day commissioned the Ogun State NAFDAC office complex in Abeokuta with pomp and ceremony. Seven NAFDAC state office complexes have been completed by the DG across the country in the last five years while many others are at different stages of completion.

The NAHCO Complex presently houses fully equipped and befitting Office Spaces for staff, some of whom run a 24-hour surveillance service, a Press/Conference room that can sit forty persons, a temporary mini-warehouse equipped with temperature-sensitive storage facility, as well as light-duty vehicular equipment for safely moving items till such are ready for release or seizure for destruction.

‘’My heart broke one day in early 2018 when our former director of Port Inspection Directorate sent me a picture of our staff at the Apapa port working from inside their car with a big umbrella because it was raining so that clients can come in and take care of their business.

”I was shocked’’, she said in a voice laden with grief, stressing that ‘’with this monumental edifice with maximum comfort and tools, all that has become a thing of the past for our staff’’. (Flowerbudnews)

The Office of the National Security Adviser on Wednesday entered into a partnership with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control to curb the use of illicit drugs across the country.

According to a statement by the Director, Strategic Communications, ONSA, Ozoya Imohimi, the National Coordinator, National Counter Terrorism Centre, ONSA, Rear Admiral Yaminu Musa (retd.), said the use of illicit drug was “fueling insecurity” in the country.

The statement read in part, “Drug is one of those foods fueling insecurity in Nigeria and the need to strengthen collaborations among relevant government’s Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, particularly, NAFDAC, to tackle this menace, must be sustained for a safe and resilient society.”

NAFDAC’s Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, called on all Nigerians to expose those selling illicit drugs, adding that the future of many young people had been destroyed using drugs.

She promised that her agency’s continued collaboration with the NCTC in the ONSA would lead to more positive outcomes for the benefit Nigeria

Flowerbudnews

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, sealed a shop in Zuba, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory, on Thursday for allegedly selling unapproved aphrodisiacs to Nigerians.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the aphrodisiacs are Garin Yansun, Sabon Mai-Siket, Ruwan Jaraba, Tunkude, Fenugreek powder, and Al-Khausara herbal syrup.

Bubuchiki Godiya, a member of the Federal Taskforce, Investigation, and Enforcement Directorate of NAFDAC, said that “the agency received intel that Yunusa Adamu was manufacturing unregistered herbal preparation.

Godiya said that the agency sent some of its team members to investigate, and on arrival, they found that there were many unregistered herbal drugs.

According to him, even though Adamu gave the invoice for some of the products to the team, he still denied producing any drugs.

We will investigate for more evidence; the shop has more than 15 different varieties of products. Many of them have pornographic pictures, which are not acceptable, and the agency cannot register a drug or any product with pornographic pictures.

“The drugs are all over the shop; that is why we have evacuated as much as we can, and we are still going to seal the place until we conclude our investigation. We will go with the suspect in order to record his statement and investigate more to know our next line of action,” Godiya said.

He said that the agency’s standard of procedure would be to investigate the suspect.

Samples would be taken to the laboratory for analysis, and with the result, the agency would know the way forward, he said.

On his part, Adamu told NAN that he bought the drugs from Kano and Kaduna markets and that he had been in business for a very long time, saying that “it is what people know me for.”

He said that his chairman, who was not available, would bring the necessary documents to the agency

Flowerbudnews

Abuja: The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has reiterated its commitment to ensuring that Nigerians consume wholesome and safe products.

Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC Director-General, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in

Abuja.

She said that the agency has introduced various technological initiatives toward ensuring a better deal for the citizens.

“The agency uses TrueScan, which is a hand-held device used for on-the-spot detection of counterfeit medicines.

“The device allows regulators and law enforcement agents to conduct field-based screening of pharmaceutical samples to quickly and accurately identify counterfeits,” Adeyeye said.

The NAFDAC boss said that there was the need for Nigerians to appreciate the efforts of the agency towards improving on food and drug safety.

‘’Following my appointment as the Director- General, I was informed of the need to have a Strategic Plan that will reflect my vision and the Federal Ministry of Health’s 2nd National Strategic Health Development Plan.

‘’Thus, the plan development process involved identification of new areas of focus and the realignment of our priorities in line with the present Management’s direction and the FMoH Strategic Plan in order to make us work smarter in the same direction and deliver on our mandate,’’ she said.

Adeyeye said that the agency has taken measures for the tracing and distribution of drugs in the country through a global system that allows screening of barcode and post market surveillance (PMS) of products.

NAN reports that PMS refers to the process of monitoring the safety of drugs once they reach the market after the successful completion of clinical trials.

The primary purpose for the conduct of PMS is to identify previously unrecognized adverse effects as well as positive effects.

Adeyeye said that farmers were also being sensitised on the use of appropriate quantities of pesticide on their products and likewise livestock farmers on antibiotics use.

She said that the effect of inappropriate use of both pesticide and antibiotics were serious on the health of consumers and the overall status of heath of citizens.

The NAFDAC boss added that such uncontrolled use of antibiotics was the cause of  outbreaks of drug  resistant diseases.

“Arbitrary use of antibiotics in animals may raise the risk of transmitting drug-resistant bacteria to humans either by direct infection or by transferring “resistance genes from agriculture into human pathogens,” she said.

Adeyeye said that the agency was also working assiduously on ensuring quality drugs are made available through its post-market monitoring.

She said that stakeholders in the food and pharmaceutical industries  had responded positively to its efforts at sanitising the industry.

Flowerbudnews

By Franca Ofili
Abuja:   The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has sealed a shop in Zuba, an outskirt of FCT, for allegedly selling unapproved aphrodisiacs to Nigerians.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the aphrodisiacs are: garin yansun, sabon mai-siket, ruwan jaraba, tunkude,
fenugreek powder and al-khausara herbal syrup (man power).

Mr Bubuchiki Godiya, a member of the Federal Taskforce, Investigation and Enforcement Directorate of NAFDAC, said that “the agency
received an Intel that Yunusa Adamu was manufacturing unregistered herbal preparation.”

Godiya said that the agency sent some of its team members to investigate and on arrival they found that there were many unregistered herbal drugs.

He said that Adamu claimed to have purchased the herbal drugs from Kano and Kaduna markets.

According to him, even though Adamu gave the invoice of some of the products to the team, he still denied producing any drugs.

“We will investigate for more evidence; the shop has more than 15 different varieties of products.

“Many of them have pornographic pictures which are not acceptable and the agency cannot register a drug or any product with pornographic pictures.

“The drugs are all over the shop that is why we have evacuated as much as we can and we are still going to seal the place until we conclude our investigation.

“We will go with the suspect in order to record his statement and investigate more to know our next line of action,’’ Godiya said.

He said that the agency’s standard of procedure would be to investigate the suspect.

Godiya said that samples would be taken to the laboratory for analysis and with the result; the agency would know the way forward.

On his part, Adamu told NAN that he bought the drugs from Kano and Kaduna markets, and that he had been in business for a very long time,
saying that “it is what people know me for.”

He said that his chairman, who was not available, would bring the necessary documents to the agency. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng) /Flowerbudnews

Flowerbudnews

By Franca Ofili
Abuja: The National Agency for Food and Drug
Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has intensified operations in Abuja confiscating repackaged/expired chicken feeds worth about   N1.9 billion in Idu.

Idu is a popular industrial area in the outskirt of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Mr Bubuchiki Godiya, a member of the Federal Taskforce and Investigation, Enforcement Directorate, NAFDAC, who disclosed this over the weekend, said the agency received an allegation concerning feed avenue that was producing animal feeds.

Godiya said that the agency on receipt of the allegation sent its staff to the warehouse
for confirmation.

He added that the team was shocked by their findings on getting to the warehouse, because it was discovered that goods were being manufactured there.

According to him, the revelations show that most of the goods are expired.

He said “what we saw verified the allegation as the company had been carrying out funny activities at the warehouse.

“In the manager’s office, we saw some pressing iron, sailing thread and several other items for re-bagging feeds.”

Godiya said that on interrogation, the manager could not explain what the items were used for as he claimed the products were
imported from France.

He also said that aside the discovery, the goods had expired, some labels were also observed to have been removed and replaces with new ones.

“We saw many newly printed labels in the manager’s office; the manager said he had no answers to questions he was asked, as some products he said were produced in Nigeria had no label or NAFDAC number.

“We will investigate this and must get to the root of the matter. When you go to a place and you see scaling machine, pressing iron, coding machine, one will understand that things are being manufactured there,’’ he said.

The task force member disclosed that on inspection of the facility, the team discovered that the place was a warehouse, and not even a factory for production.

He said that the team had sufficient evidence and further regulatory action would be taken against the company.

Meanwhile, Mr Daniel Ajayi, the warehouse manager, claimed not to be aware of other activities, saying his responsibility is to sell poultry products.

He claimed that the new empty bags and other things in the warehouse were to re-bag any damaged product.

Mr Umaru Suleiman, the Team Leader of the Federal Taskforce Investigation and Enforcement Unit, Kaduna, whose jurisdiction covers the entire North, including Abuja, said that the warehouse had all it takes to repackage any product.

Suleiman explained that “the company buys expired products and re-bag them and sell to customers.”

According to him, even if a product is registered, it should be evaluated immediately it expires.

“Expired products should be quarantined in a particular place, so as not to contaminate others.

“If it is imported from France as he claimed, there is what we call import permit for products like this and it will be written on the labels.”

The News of Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the warehouse had been sealed and the manager arrested.

NAN also report that the warehouse has no notice board and it is in the premises of Bouygue Construction, Nigeria. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)/ Flowerbudnews

Flowerbudnews

By Biola Lawal
Abuja (Flowerbudnews): The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is partnering National Counter-terrorism Centre (NCTC) to tackle drug abuse, alcoholism and chemical misuse and ultimately, curb terrorism.

NAFDAC DG, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, who was speaking during a visit to NCTC Headquarters in Abuja noted  that drug abuse, chemical misuse and alcoholism had been traced as major contributors to acts of terrorism,.

Prof Adeyeye said that the visit to the NCTC was  to enhance and strengthen the already existing robust working partnership between the two organisations, a statement by Sayo Akintola, NAFDAC Resident Media Consultant disclosed.

She expressed NAFDAC resolve to work with NCTC to combat the menace of drug abuse in the country, misuse of chemicals and alcoholism with their associated dangers to the wellbeing of Nigerians.

‘’The purpose of the visit is to strengthen the working partnership between the two agencies which have similar interests including but not limited to the fight against drug abuse, chemical misuse and alcoholism which have been traced as major contributors to acts of terrorism, said Prof Adeyeye.

The NAFDAC Boss further expressed her agencys readiness to work with the Centre to achieve a common goal..

Prof Adeyeye noted that the collaboration was very positive , recalling how she was told, about a year into her first tenure as DG by someone in a privileged position in the society that there was an abuse of Tramadol.

She disclosed that NAFDAC was now using what is called ‘’Track and Trace’’,as the Traceability tool.

”NAFDAC has so far been recognized as the leading Agency in Africa in terms of use of barcoding to trace where the medicine goes from the manufacturer to the end user.”She stated.

Exuding self-confidence in the system, Prof Adeyeye said” unless the user is not on planet earth, we can trace it. We have global positioning systems that can pinpoint the medicine to the nearest location”.

Prof Adeyeye pointed out that ”this is so important because the use of narcotics can alter the minds of its users and can lead to extremism, terrorism, loss of lives and loss of livelihood.”

While congratulating the National Coordinator of NCTC for the monumental achievement in building this new Centre, she said ‘’to me, this shows commitment to integration’’, noting that silos mentality was what we were doing or sometimes we still do it. We cannot work in silos.

It is when we work together, that we bring agencies of government together and we get a lot of results’’.

She pledged that the collaboration is guaranteed in terms of NAFDAC’s commitment and for this Centre in terms of research. She further added that, ‘’we can only do research in collaboration with other agencies or the academia which has been a major contributor to the growth of NAFDAC to higher grounds.’’

’This new Centre to me shows integration, noting that she instituted focus groups in NAFDAC because silo mentality was what we were doing or sometimes we still do it. We cannot work in silo

“‘It is when we work together, we bring agencies of government together that we get a lot of results.

She pledged that the collaboration is guaranteed in terms of NAFDAC and this Centre in terms of research, adding that we can only do research in collaboration with other agencies or the academia. The growth of NAFDAC is leading us to higher grounds.

The National Coordinator of NCTC, Rear Admiral Yaminu Musa explained that the essence of the partnership is to draw up the modalities of partnership between the two agencies, stressing that ‘’It’s only when we partner with you, that you become aware that things we can do on your behalf then we can be called useful.

According to him, the two agencies had some engagements in the past and some decisions were taken, asking rhetorically to what extent have the decisions been implemented and what are the factors mitigating against implementation of those not implemented that we can review because we are starting a new race”.

He further said, this is the right time for the two agencies to review previous activities and be able to re-strategize and inform the new government on areas that needed further push whether it is policy push or strategy categorization of plans.

Rear Admiral Yaminu Musa added, ‘’If we do it now and we do it right we will be setting the new government on that pedestal to understanding us better and for us to be able to deliver more for the government.

He gave the history of the centre which started as a directorate under the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and now established as the National Counter Terrorism Centre. He highlighted the milestones of the Centre and recognised NAFDAC as a formidable stakeholder in the centres evolution and development of some of its policies in addressing some issues of insecurity in the country.

He enthused that the centre intends to partner with research-based institutions like NAFDAC in many areas and access global support to be domiciled at relevant institutions that require it for the purpose of operational use, training purpose, and research, including equipment.

The meeting also discussed issues on how importation could be controlled, the necessary agencies to pass through when importing and the documents to be obtained before importation could be deemed to be lawful.

He disclosed that his Centre held strategy meetings with other agencies of government, noting that this is the first we are having it at the level of the two heads of government agencies.

In a related development, officials of NAFDAC busted peddlers of unauthorized chemicals in Lagos where a good number of arrests were made.

If it is restricted chemical, we have got to monitor it when it comes in; when moving it from one place to another NAFDAC also monitors that transfer because chemicals can be used to do many bad things, said Prof Adeyeye.

She added that some of them are precursors to narcotics while some of them may be precursors to making bombs.

She said NAFDAC is very stringent on regulation of chemicals to protect the nation, adding that we are very stringent on regulatory management of chemicals which include inspection, testing and approval and post approval surveillance.

The fact that we have given someone license does not mean we have to fold our arms. We have to keep checking to make sure that they are still abiding with regulations.

As chemicals are essential for our use Prof Adeyeye noted that they are also delicate and dangerous, adding that this is why it must be ensured that only genuine chemicals are available and are properly handled, stored, and managed.

This is why NAFDAC ensures that it employs the strategy of inspection, investigation and enforcement, post marketing surveillance as well as sensitization to curb the activities of erring manufacturers and peddlers of unapproved chemical products who either deliberately circumvent the agency to sell unwholesome regulated products to the public or due to ignorance or lack of sensitization do not toe the lawful path in dealing in NAFDAC regulated products.

She said chemical, drug or food manufacturers are encouraged to join an association. She emphasized that they are not forced to join a particular association.

She urged them to join trade associations so that when the Agency is disseminating information the associat1ion will be able to distribute it amongst its members, noting that Its easier to control when there is an association.

Though we dont insist that client should join a particular association, but they need to be part of one. Chemical manufacturers have an association and we have had a couple of stakeholders meetings. The importance of chemicals is underscored at this meeting and the importance of doing things right is important at that meeting.

She insisted that whether its restricted or unrestricted chemical, the Agency must carry out inspection of the warehouse, issue port permit and assess the storage condition because the temperature can be harsh, noting that what may not break down in one year, if put it in a tropical environment, it will break down in six months or less.

‘’We have to keep checking to make sure that they are still abiding with regulations, she said.(Flowerbudnews)

By Aderogba George