NAFDAC Boss Warns Against Fake, Counterfeit Drugs

The Director General of the National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has expressed concern over the high level of fake, substandard, and falsified drugs in Nigeria.

At a one-day sensitization campaign program held at Ibadan Business School in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, Adeyeye warned that fake and substandard products could negatively impact users due to their effects on the body.

Adeyeye, who was represented by the Zonal Director of the agency, Roselyn Ajayi, emphasized the need for aggressive sensitization and engagement of different stakeholders, particularly those in healthcare product distribution.

“Our survey has shown that the level of prevalence of substandard and falsified products is high across the nation,” Adeyeye said.

“The outcome of such survey necessitated the need for sensitization and engagement of the healthcare providers to interact on how the prevalence of substandard and falsified medicine can be reduced.”

Adeyeye noted that fakers and counterfeiters are getting smarter and faster, taking advantage of technological advancements.

“From the experiences and survey report, it was observed that fakers and counterfeiters are getting smarter and faster, taking advantage of the possibilities and opportunities of advancement in technology, hence the sensitization and campaign programme,” she said.

She added that participants have been shown “what we have discovered on the field. We want them to know the concerns of NAFDAC, and we also want to know their concerns, so as to know the way forward.”

“This sensitization is not ending here; we are still going to pay advocacy visits to churches, mosques, traditional rulers, and opinion leaders on how to avoid patronizing people selling substandard, unwholesome, and fake products.”

“This is just the first phase, and we have brought in pharmacists that are involved in the distribution of medicine to enlighten them on what to look out for, concern of NAFDAC, what is their own concern and also how we can put these incidences to the barest minimum?”

In his remark, the chairman of the Oyo State Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Adebayo Gbadamosi, appealed to Nigerians to always patronize registered pharmacists, not quacks, to buy original drugs.

“Some of these drugs also have scratches. You can scratch to know the authenticity of the drugs. If our people are informed and they stop buying fake drugs, it will discourage the quacks.”