Adeyeye spoke on Tuesday at a webinar, “Addressing the Escalating Costs of Medicines,”  organised by TheCable to mark its 10th anniversary.

The NAFDAC DG said having more local pharmaceutical companies would help to bring down the rising prices of drugs as foreign manufacturers exit the country.

She also suggested the stabilisation of forex devaluation to encourage local manufacturers of drugs. “If we do not focus on local manufacturing, we will continue to have drug insecurity. It is not a solution you can get overnight. There is nothing the multinationals are making that we cannot make in Nigeria. The one item we cannot make is the inhaler for asthma.

“When this issue started, pharmaceutical companies contacted us to ask if they could import some products, and we gave them permission to import. NAFDAC reacts to shortages. If the company reaches out and we confirm there is a shortage, we ask them to import, and we give them a faster registration process. These are ways to reduce the impact of the exit of multinationals.

“NAFDAC does not control or regulate prices. We control access. We make sure that products are accessible. If local manufacturers’ prices are higher than those imported, the reality is that local manufacturers import everything.

“But sometimes some of the things being imported may not be of quality. If it is too good to be true, it may not be true. The fact that local manufacturers’ prices are higher is a reality. The fact that the drug is cheap doesn’t mean it is of good quality. The buyer must be careful. Don’t buy medicines from the street corners, buy from the pharmacies,” she said.

The NAFDAC DG warned that the country would continue to have “drug insecurity” if the government failed to focus on local manufacturing.

“In 2018, in Ilorin, Kwara, the National Association of Industrial Pharmacists invited me, and I categorically stated that we would change the narrative from 70 percent importation to 30 percent,” Adeyeye said.

“But when we have had decades of decay, that couldn’t have happened overnight. In 2019, we started the five plus five directive. We did a study where the top five drugs that are imported are also the top five manufactured in Nigeria. We did that before the pandemic.

“From that initiative, more than 30 percent of companies in Nigeria are the result of the five plus five because many importers started building their own companies or partnering with local manufacturers through contract manufacturing. That is the way to make drugs available.”

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He also appointed a new Director-General for the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr. Olajide Idris, who replaces Prof. Ifedayo Adetifa.

Idris assumes office on February 19, 2024.

Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, announced the appointments in a statement on Thursday titled ‘President Tinubu approves leadership changes in health and social welfare sector.’

The President approved the appointment and reappointment of board chairpersons and Chief Executive Officers for eight agencies under the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

They include Prof. Abba Zubairu and Dr. Saleh Yuguda as board chairperson and CEO, respectively, for the National Blood Service Commission; Prof. Afolabi Lesi and Dr. Fatima Kyari as board chairperson and CEO, respectively, for the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria; Wasilat Giwa and Ibrahim Ahmed as board chairperson and CEO, respectively for the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria and Dr. Babajide Salako and Dr. Tosan Erhabor as Board Chairperson and CEO, respectively, of the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria.

He also appointed Prof. Adamu Bakari as Chief Medical Director of Moddibo Adama University Teaching Hospital, Yola, Adamawa State, and Prof. Reuben Eifediyi as CMD of the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Edo State.

The appointments are “in furtherance of his determination to bring world-class standards to Nigerian public health administration and to manifest his commitment to deliver affordable and quality care to all Nigerians under governance and regulatory frameworks commensurate with international best practice,” said Ngelale.

The new NCDC Chief, Idris, received his MBBS degree from the University of Lagos’ College of Medicine, after which he obtained a Master’s degree in Public Health from the Ivy League’s Yale University in Connecticut, United States of America.

He served as the Commissioner for Health in Lagos State from 2007 to 2019, after serving as the Permanent Secretary in the Lagos State Ministry of Health from 1999 to 2007.

The New NBSC Chairperson, Prof. Abba Zubairu, has served as the Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic in the United States of America, following a long career in which he served as a Resident Doctor at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital as a Post-Doctoral Fellow.

He undertook a Clinical Fellowship at Harvard Medical School’s Transfusion Medicine Programme during which he obtained a Master’s degree in Clinical Science at the same institution.

The New MDCN CEO, Kyari, is an ophthalmologist and Fellow of the Nigeria Academy of Medicine who obtained an MBBS degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, after which she obtained a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of London’s School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She also obtained a Doctorate in Public Health from the same institution.

Ngelale noted that the President expects the new leadership to “substantially raise the standards of healthcare service delivery for the exclusive benefit of all strata of the Nigerian population.”

Owing to the high cost of historical underperformance in the health sector, the President anticipates “the immediate and effective implementation of new policy frameworks to reposition the sector under the able leadership of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Muhammad Pate,” the statement read.

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Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), says she has received reports of children caught with sachet alcohol.

Earlier this month, NAFDAC announced a ban on the production of alcohol in sachets and pet bottles of less than 200ml.

Kazeem Adeniran, NAFDAC assistant chief regulation officer, investigation and enforcement, said the ban was in line with the agreement reached by a tripartite committee set up in 2018 by the federal ministry of health.

Speaking on Wednesday during an Arise Television interview, Adeyeye said the agency is banning alcohol in sachets, or in less than 200ml PET bottles, because these packages can be easily concealed.

“I want us to think of children in primary and secondary schools drinking alcohol in a sachet or less than 200ml PET bottles,” she said.

“Beer has four to eight percent alcohol, but the alcohol content in these sachets is 30 percent, which is six to seven times the alcohol content in beer. We did not ban alcohol in bigger containers, and we are not against trade.

“Sachet alcohol is harmful because it can be easily concealed. Imagine a primary school child concealing a sachet in their pocket. I was talking with a school principal some days ago and he said they usually seize those sachet packages from children.

“He said sometimes a child may consume up to seven during school hours. It has been documented by agencies that children who take alcohol at a young age will most likely end up abusing substances.”

The director-general said NAFDAC is carrying out the ban on sachet alcohol as the implementing agency under the ministry of health, in conjunction with the ministry of trade.

“The Association of Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) and the Distillers Association went to the Ministry of Health in 2018 to complain that we are planning to ban alcohol in sachets, and we had several meetings,” she added.

“At the end of it all, there was a document that was generated and an agreement signed by AFBTE and the distillers association that we should consider that they have machinery and people producing these products. They said we should give them time. They signed an agreement for a five-year phase-out.”

BAN WILL ERODE INVESTORS’ CONFIDENCE

The Food Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB) has faulted the ban on alcoholic beverages in sachets and PET bottles.

Speaking when the association picketed the headquarters of NAFDAC in Abuja on Tuesday, Oyibo Jimoh, its national president, said “the ban will erode investors’ confidence in our economy.”.

“This should not be added to the hydra-headed challenges that our economy is facing already,” he said.

“Our association considers the NAFDAC action as a willful and deliberate economic sabotage, as the implementation is coming at a time when the economy is on a downward spiral.

“Workers in these companies pay various forms of taxes to the government at different levels, while the companies in the sector also contribute significantly to the economy through job creation and taxes.

“The sector is a chain from the producer to the major marketers, distributors, and retailers. The impact on the families of millions of Nigerians who are dependent on these workers is indescribable.”

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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), says the operators of fake wine factories raided in Abia threatened people who challenged their activities.

NAFDAC had closed the market involved in the counterfeit production of a variety of beverages including wines, soft drinks and consumables in Eziukwu market (Cemetery market) Aba, Abia State.

In a statement on Monday, Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC director-general, said after an intelligence tip-off, it discovered that the “dastard activity has been going on for a long time and they operate like a cartel threatening anyone who dares challenge them”.

Adeyeye said some of the nefarious activities of the counterfeiters included the manufacturing of all kinds of adulterated products especially different kinds of wine from a wide variety of brands.

She said the brands are Seaman Schnapps, Henessy, Four Cousins, Carlo Rossi, Jenney, Chelsea London Dry Gin, Schnapp Dry Gin, McDowells, Black Labels, Gordons, Martell, Campari and Smirnoff ice.

Others are Eva non-alcoholic drink, Eva non-alcoholic drink, and others.

The counterfeiters, according to Adeyeye, also indulged in date revalidation for expired products like Peak milk, powdered milk, ketchup, yoghurt, and Coca-Cola products.

She said the fake and substandard products were later sold to unsuspecting members of the public for consumption.

“Over 1500 cartons of the fake and substandard products were destroyed during the operation while 300 cartons were evacuated to NAFDAC warehouse,” Adeyeye said.

“The street value of the confiscated and destroyed fake products is estimated at over seven hundred and fifty million naira only. (N750,000,000). Ten people were arrested on arrival at the scene of the crime and will be charged to court after a thorough investigation.”

‘BE VIGILANT, SCRUTINISE BRANDED DRINKS’

In alerting the public this yuletide season, NAFDAC said Nigerians should be vigilant and always scrutinise branded drinks to distinguish them from counterfeits before consuming them.

“Only buy only NAFDAC-registered drinks from reputable and licenced retailers, bars and supermarkets,” the agency said.

“If the product is being sold well below its normal price, or doesn’t seem to include normal taxes on liquors, then it is probably fake.

“Check for poor quality packaging, spelling mistakes and unusually shaped bottles. Look for the contact information and address of the manufacturer. If it is missing, the alcohol is fake. Inspect the seal on the bottle.

“If the seal is broken or damaged, then the contents might have been interfered with and are not safe to drink. Check for fake barcodes. If you have an app on your mobile that scans barcodes, scan it and see if it is listed as the correct product. Beware of bad smells! If it smells like paint stripper or nail polish remover, then it probably is.”

NAFDAC said it will continue to ensure the level of counterfeit products nationwide is reduced so people will continue to consume only healthy and safe products.

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Speaking when she appeared as a guest on Sunrise Daily, a programme on Channels Television, Adeyeye said there is need for more efforts on local production.

She highlighted the effects of importation and how it has affected the availability of medical supplies in the country in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were over-dependent. The only thing that the pharmaceutical companies do not import is water. The ingredients are not there and you cannot manufacture ingredients, whether active or non-active in the country without support from the government. That is part of what the government is doing,” she said.

“You cannot set up active pharmaceutical industries without training the personnel; without having solid science foundation.

“That is changing now. There are two or three companies now that are going to be making some pharmaceutical ingredients. We think importation is the best thing, but it is the worst thing that could have happened to us.”

Adeyeye maintained that the Buhari administration is committing resources to address the situation, but called on other stakeholders to focus efforts on improving capacity, even within tertiary institutions.

“I actually see a brighter future for Nigeria because COVID-19 woke us up from our comatose state as a country. The health sector was neglected for decades and what the Buhari administration is doing right now is phenomenal. It is something to know that a neglect took place; it is another thing to start finding excuses,” the NAFDAC boss said.

“The current administration has now committed a lot of money towards the health sector — from the primary health to the tertiary, to pharmaceutical companies, to researchers.

“Before COVID-19, we had huge problems and COVID-19 kind of opened the Pandora’s box for us because we were over-dependent. From the universities, the university system is weak to produce graduates that cannot really strengthen the pharmaceutical industry. The regulatory system was weak and I use ‘was’ because NAFDAC is no longer what NAFDAC was three years ago. I knew a lot about regulatory science before I joined NAFDAC and there were things that were done wrong.

“But we cannot live in the past. It is what are we doing right now. If a regulatory system is weak, the pharmaceutical industry will be weak. So, what we are doing now is building internal capacity and that we cannot see on the air.

“What I mean by internal capacity is making sure we use quality management system and right now as we speak, we’re going through WHO audit which is a very tasking and arduous process and it is the best thing that could happen to NAFDAC.”

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Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC director-general, made this known during a programme on TVC, on Tuesday.

On Monday, the WHO announced a “temporary pause” in its solidarity trial on the use of hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Tedros Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general, cited the study published by The Lancet, which had examined the effects of the use of hydroxychloroquine alone or when used with a macrolide, and reported a higher mortality rate.

But the NAFDAC DG said there is data to prove that chloroquine is effective in treating COVID-19 patients, particularly at the “mild stage” of the virus.

She said Nigeria would continue its clinical trials which may take three to four months.

“There is data to prove that hydroxychloroquine worked for many COVID-19 patients. Therefore, we would continue our own clinical trials in Nigeria. Hydroxychloroquine has been proved to work at a mild stage. So the potency depends on the severity of the disease in the patient’s body,” she said.

“If medical doctors, research scientists, pharmacists, herbal experts work together, we should conclude the clinical trial in three to four months. The narrative might change afterwards but for now, we believe in hydroxychloroquine.”

During the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing On May 18, 2020, Fiona Braka, officer in charge of WHO in Nigeria, had announced that the solidarity trial had started in Nigeria.

Three days later, Akin Abayomi, commissioner for health in Lagos, also said the state had concluded plans to roll out hydroxychloroquine trials for possible prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

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