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Fake drugs: Facing the challenges from China and India

As a consequence of this misnomer, thousands of people, Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike, met with untimely death, leading to the branding of Nigeria as the…

As a consequence of this misnomer, thousands of people, Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike, met with untimely death, leading to the branding of Nigeria as the epicenter of fake and adulterated drug in the whole of Africa.

The former Director-General of NAFDAC, Professor Dora Akunyili, during her tenure fought fiercely to put an end to this sad turn of event but was unable to achieve complete success as different ranges of counterfeit drugs kept surfacing in various market centers across the country. This was in spite of all the efforts put in place to reverse the trend. The marginal gain in the war against imported fake drugs at that time was an indication that the primary root of continued shipment of counterfeit drugs into Nigeria had not been identified.

As it would turn out, the new Director General of NAFDAC, Dr Paul Orhi is well on his way to nipping fake drugs menace in the bud, as desired by all well meaning citizens of this country.

Shortly after his assumption of office, Dr Orhi pledged to deploy his wealth of experience in raising the standard of drug regulation in the country. He also gave the assurance that he would bring international standards to bear on the fight against fake drugs and other sub-standard regulated products in the country. Apparently in the determination to make good his pledge, the director general recently announced plans to set up NAFDAC overseas control points in China and India to verify the quality of all drugs and allied products headed for Nigeria from these two flash points. This initiative is a welcome development and one highly commends the director general for his foresight and competence. When fully operational, these quality control points would serve to promote and protect the interests of all Nigerians back home. In effect, an end to importation, sale, or distribution of fake drugs is in sight, courtesy of the new NAFDAC boss. No doubt, this is the fall out of his overseas wealth of experience.

In adopting this strategy, Orhi has demonstrated full knowledge of the underlining causes of persistent shipment of fake drugs and other products to Nigeria despite campaign to put an end to it. Since campaigns alone are not working, it is foolhardy to continue to lay blames of fake drugs on Nigerians alone. As they say, it takes two to tango! The most pragmatic step, which is what the DG has proposed, is to extend the frontiers of the campaign against this cankerworm to the doorsteps of manufacturers of these lethal products. In addition to embarking on massive re-orientation campaigns in those countries, NAFDAC officials in these countries would help ensure full compliance to international safety standards in the production, packaging and shipment of all goods and drugs from these points.

If this approach is followed to the letters, the presumption that fake drugs have come to stay in Nigeria would naturally fizzle out. To further enhance the quality control goal of NAFDAC in these countries, the governments of these countries should be fully incorporated into the re-orientation program in order to secure legislations that would prohibit manufacture of fake drugs for the Nigerian market. Stiff penalties or sanctions should also be introduced as punishment for defaulters in India or China. According to the DG’s plan, the deployment of fully trained NAFDAC personnel to these countries is to beef up and strengthen the existing arrangement whereby laboratory analysis consultants are hired by NAFDAC to scrutinize and test drugs and other products to ensure that they meet international safety standards. Rather than create unnecessary bureaucracy, Dr Orhi said that these quality control staff would work “hand in hand with the independent laboratory analysis consultant. Again this shows a great deal of determination to get to the root of the problem.

Since experience has shown that the Nigerian customs is challenged in the area of sufficient manpower to thoroughly police our border posts, blaming them for the porous nature of the Nigerian borders without providing them modern equipment and trainings to carry out their duties merely beg the issue of combating fake drugs from the border points point of view. In agreement with this fact, the director general of NAFDAC had himself expressed genuine concern that Nigeria has a vast geographical landmass that may be difficult to man all at the same time, except through extra vigilance.

Although the setting up of these centers in China and India has the capacity to end shipment of fake drugs to Nigeria as desired, there is the need for NAFDAC to seek more support to extend these quality control exercises to neighbouring border posts to China and India. This would tighten the noose round those who may choose to shift their shipment points to those other than China’s or India.

In the same vein, recent formulation of partnership at the behest of Dr Paul Orhi between the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), for free exchange of information regarding quality of food and drugs between the two countries is a land mark achievement not only for the agency but for the country as a whole. The collaboration which is to help Nigeria keep abreast of modern techniques in food and drugs control also featured an intensive one week training program for NAFDAC officials in the area of modern scientific techniques in handling drugs, food and other regulated products. The NAFDAC boss said also that to increase quality and efficiency of the agency’s regulatory duties, some Nigerian information technology experts based in the US are to arrive the country soon to commence an intensive information technology training for all directors and deputy directors of the agency. He further stressed that computerization of the agency’s regulatory and administrative activities would commence immediately. With such depth of groundwork in place, Nigerians are no doubts about to experience a sanitized drug manufacture and distribution sector. This is truly a welcome development.

Odita writes from Kubwa, Abuja


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