Expresses worry over Nigeria’s drug insecurity as Coronavirus hits China

By Chioma Obinna

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, on Monday debunked purported online recruitment exercise by the Agency, describing “it as fake news”.

Meanwhile, the Agency has expressed worry over Nigeria’s drug self-sufficiency level following the outbreak of novel Coronavirus in China where most of the drugs in the country are imported from.

The Director-General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye who spoke to journalists in Lagos advised Nigerian job seekers to be wary of individuals who are demanding money to offer them jobs in NAFDAC.

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She said: “Are we employing right now? The answer is no. We are not employing anybody right now and we are not recruiting and it is also on our website that we are not recruiting; whoever is doing that is playing pranks, possibly exploiting people.”

We don’t collect money for recruitment. We are still in February we have to get approval from Federal Character, Budget office before we can think of recruiting. The report is just fake news.

She said some unscrupulous individuals are even collecting money, explaining that NAFDAC does not collect money from anybody for employment.

“We hope to recruit this year but we have to get approval from Head of Service, federal character and the budget office before we can even think of recruiting.”

Speaking on the need for drug sufficiency in the country, the director-general of the agency said self-sufficiency in drugs would reduce fake and adulterated medicines in circulation.

Adeyeye disclosed that the country still imports about 70 percent of its drug making the nation vulnerable to emergencies or outbreaks.

She said the coronavirus would send a clear message about drug security to Nigeria.

“At the height of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) more than 33million Africans died because there were no drugs. We do not want that to happen, right now we ship about 70per cent of drugs from China and India.

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So what is going to happen, God forbid if it becomes bigger than what it is right now? It means we will not be able to get materials from China aside for us working to get medicines that are effective to some extent ready, we have to think of sustainability

“It should not get bigger than this. We have to think of sustainability, what could happen to us as a country because we import about 70 percent and make about 30 percent. It is time for us to think and apply the necessary measures to achieve drug security,” she stated.

Adeyeye disclosed that there would be a meeting of the international coalition of regulatory agencies in Geneva where they will be talking about the Coronavirus, epidemiology, possible vaccines that are being developed to tackle the menace. ” NAFDAC will be issuing a statement of fact on the virus very soon and what the agency is doing about it.”

On how safe drugs coming from China, Adeyeye said the virus cannot survive because of the longer time it takes to get to Nigeria and the period it also takes to clear the goods at the port.

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