The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Dr. Paul Orhii

  • NAFDAC partners pharmacists to stop counterfeiting

    The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Association of Industrial Pharmacists of Nigeria (NAIP) are collaborating to curb the menace of drug counterfeiting.

    Its Director-General, Dr Paul Orhii said the fight cannot be won alone, hence, the need to work together to rid the country of fake drugs.

    He spoke at the 17th Annual Conference/ second town hall meeting of NAIP in Lagos. The theme was: Tapping the opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry for wealth creation.

    Orhii, represented by Director, Registration and Regulation, Dr Monica Emujeize, said counterfeiting is an issue that demands cooperation of everybody.

    The agency boss said it is a global issue, which affects public safety, thus it must be stopped.

    He said the quest by pharmaceutical companies to get the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) pre-qualification has made the practitioners to improve in the sector.

    “This is because they will be able to export their drugs to other countries across the world unhindered. This is good for the sector,” he said.

    NAIP chairman, Prince Gbenga Folabi said NAFDAC should be empowered by law to check all containers coming into the country’s seaports.

    This, he said, will ensure that no fake medicine found its way into Nigeria. “The agency should be able to do its job thoroughly unlike when the Customs invite its officials to conduct a check,” he said.

    He described counterfeiting as “a global terrorism”, which should be jointly fought.

    “Drug counterfeiting has been a robber of prosperity and killers of the sector, with people losing trust and confidence. The agency has in no little way helped to restore confidence,” he said.

    He said sanity is gradually returning to the sector, adding: “The situation in the industry is not as gloomy as it appears. The Federal Government has renewed commitment to ensure self-sufficiency in the sector. This will lead to an expansion of the market.”

  • ‘Foreigners behind Fulani/Tiv clashes’

    ‘Foreigners behind Fulani/Tiv clashes’

    Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii, on a visit, distributed relief materials to internally-displaced persons in various camps in Benue State. He spoke with journalists about the security challenges in the country, particularly in Benue State, saying, among other things, why he thinks foreigners are behind the clashes between farmers and herdsmen. UJA EMMANUEL was there for The Nation. Excerpts:

    What are your thoughts about the security challenges in the country, particularly the sustained attacks on farmers in Benue State?

    Nigeria is undergoing very serious security challenges. These were the kind of challenges that we never anticipated that would happen in our part of the world. If you heard about it you thought that it was something for different regions of this world. Unfortunately the reality now is that most parts of the country are undergoing these security challenges. Benue State is not alone; it’s the general situation across the country. States like Zamfara, Borno, so many other states and then particularly Benue State, now are facing very serious security challenges. Initially we thought that it was a dispute between Fulani herdsmen and Tiv farmers but from what we’ve seen so far I think this has gone beyond these common Fulani herdsmen. We’ve lived with the Fulani herdsmen; as a child we’ve grown up with them, we joked together, and were playmates. In fact, most often when I see a Fulani person I never thought he would ever be my enemy because we just looked at them as friends and playmates. Then suddenly you see that the Fulani herdsmen cannot live side by side with the Tiv man; I don’t believe it’s the Fulani herdsmen that we’ve known. The herdsmen that we know carry sticks, at most a dane gun. For this kind of sophistication I don’t think that a true Fulani herdsman has the time to go and train how to shoot like these people, the kind of expertise that they display and the kind of sophisticated weapons that we see them with. I believe that this is aggression from outside the country. These people are coming from somewhere outside the country to come and attack. We have to sit down with our Fulani colleagues and think very carefully to find out where these attacks are coming from. I don’t believe these are common herdsmen. But they are causing very serious security challenges with potential danger that the farmers cannot go to farm. I heard that as far away as Delta, Kogi and so many other states, farmers cannot go to the farm any longer because they are afraid that they would be attacked and so there will be hunger in a few years to come because people are not planting their crops. Apart from that whole villages have been sacked and people are living in very difficult conditions, some are dying under very difficult conditions. But I believe that Nigeria will overcome these security challenges because there is a lot of work going on, a lot of discussions and negotiations and I believe that very soon a solution would be found. I advise our people to be very circumspect about what they say, the kind of things that they say. They should refrain from making inflammatory statements because like I said there is a lot of work being done to find a lasting solution to this situation. Sometimes you will be complicating the work of the leadership or the solutions they are trying to find by making unguarded statements or sometimes taking the law into your own hands. I think we should leave the security agencies; many of them have been dispatched already to Benue State so leave their job to them, do not complicate their jobs for them. I also want to tell our people that if the security agencies find you causing problems, as far as they are concerned any person causing problem is the enemy so they do not distinguish between people who have come to attack and the people who are being attacked. If they see you on the attack they will deal with you so you have to be very careful. Sometimes you have your right but if you mismanage how you convey your rights or you react to what has happened you become the aggressor. Our people have to be very careful. Do not just lynch anybody on the street because he looks different. Do not attack anybody or make statements that will cause panic or may cause people to feel that they are being attacked.

    There are claims that chemical weapons are being used in these attacks; can NAFDAC investigate these claims?

    I have heard about these claims; in fact from the symptoms that they described to me it would appear that chemical weapons are being used. I have seen some of the canisters that we have at our disposal; they’ve shown them to me. These people went and cut this usual tear gas, poured the chemical inside and then sealed it up. I have seen them first hand. But NAFDAC does not have the capacity right now to verify that. It has to be done in a specialized laboratory for testing of these sophisticated chemical weapons that are used. But from the description of some people who have died from the attacks I believe that chemical weapons are being used on our people. From some of the symptoms that doctors have described, doctors who have attended to these victims.

    Why did you procure relief materials for the displaced people and what kind of things did you bring for them?

    Generally when you see people suffering from lack of basic things, you are concerned. Because of my position I have a lot of friends in different parts of Nigeria, so these items, none of them was procured by me personally, it was not my funds. Friends called me offering to see how they could be of help. That is why many of these donations have come. Friesland brought 6,000 cartons of their milk juice. They called themselves and volunteered to donate these things because they saw the news in the media and they immediately contacted me. They knew that my people were under this type of difficult condition so they offered to give some of these things. Companies like Emzor brought some medicines and anti-malaria drugs and some of them vitamins for people who are malnourished. Different companies brought some things here and there that is why I have these items that I have here. Drinks, biscuits, Beloxi a company from Lagos called and donated biscuits, so many other companies called to donate some items that I brought here.

    What did you do in your first term as well as your vision for the second term?

    I think we did a lot in the first term; we brought a lot of innovations to so many things. When I came to NAFDAC in 2009 I told Nigerians that I would sustain all the gains that had been made at NAFDAC before I came and then take the agency’s operations to the next level, to international standards that are obtainable in the most advanced countries. I think that is exactly what we did. First and foremost we consolidated on all the gains both infrastructure-wise, there is no abandoned project in NAFDAC to begin with, all the projects that my predecessors started we’ve completed them. We also sustained the war against counterfeit medicines and then expanded that war. By the time I came to NAFDAC the incidence of counterfeit medicines had been reduced in 2005 to about 16.7 per cent. Unfortunately the incidence of counterfeit anti-malaria drugs had increased. In 2008 we had more than 60 per cent of anti-malaria drugs circulating in Nigeria were either fake or substandard so we had to reduce those indices. We set to work, we increased public awareness campaign. You know that before I came the public awareness campaign was different. NAFDAC was popular but when I came I refined the public awareness campaign to make it more educative. We created a television program, what we call ‘NAFDAC and your health’ to give the masses information about the products, more details about our regulatory activities, the products that we regulate so that the masses can be part of what we’re doing at NAFDAC and so that they can define a stake for themselves so that they will also be able to help us. It has turned out to be very successful. But realizing that not everybody has access to television we also created what we call the NAFDAC number. It’s on the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, and so you can hear our messages even in very remote corners of the country. Herdsmen can hear our messages; farmers can hear our messages in very distant corners of the country. They can call in and report incidences of fake products, that was another addition. We increased collaboration with all other security agencies in Nigeria, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Immigration and all other security agencies, we partnered with them more. At the international level we also increased our visibility. I became the Vice Chairman of the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce, IMPACT in Geneva. When IMPACT was scrapped and the first membership mechanism under the World Health Organization, what we call the SSFFSC that is the Spurious Sub-Standard Falsified False-labeled Counterfeit Medical Products Taskforce was created in Geneva made up of 193 countries I became the first chairman and currently I’m still the first chairman under the areas. But of course on a daily basis you support individual students as much as you can if they come with financial problems so that you help them go back to school. We have other programs that we’re doing even at the village level. In my village I was able to refurbish my primary school and bring it to international standard. I visited the school and when I went back I felt so bad that the children did not even have basic facilities compared to where my children at age seven they already have access to computers. My program is that I wanted every child to have access to food when they go to school so I built them a dining hall at the school and of course I have a computer room there and they’ve installed some computers so that they can have access to them and the internet. And then we refurbished the hospital which was lying there idle. We were able to refurbish and bring them a modern ambulance there and even equipped it. We encourage young doctors who come here to go back to the villages and sometimes I pay them some stipend. I had to recruit some nurses that I’ve over the past four years as well as some cleaners at that General Hospital in Lessel. About seven people have been on my payroll there for the past four years. I recruited them when I knew that after I refurbished the hospital it did not have enough staff so I had to recruit them and I pay them monthly from my own pocket for the past four years. These are some things that we’re trying to do in order to give some people opportunities.

     

    n I knew that after I refurbished the hospital it did not have enough staff so I had to recruit them and I pay them monthly from my own pocket for the past four years. These are some things that we’re trying to do in order to give some people opportunities.

     

  • Health professionals and NAFDAC’s boss, Orhii

    Health professionals and NAFDAC’s boss, Orhii

    Should President Goodluck Jonathan cut short the tenure of NAFDAC Director-General? Health professionals believe it is the wise thing to do.

    Dr. Paul Orhii’s tenure as Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) no doubt has attracted a swirl of controversies. The controversies appear not to let up. It’s all about what the statute books say are the qualifying credentials of whoever should occupy the position. The law prescribes the profession of who should be appointed Director-General, something that Orhii’s appointment seemed to undermine.

    Pharmacists in Nigeria believe that the law in question has pencilled down a professional pharmacist as the one that must be appointed Director-General of the agency. Nevertheless, since the position of power and authority in Nigeria could be used even to the subversion of the statutes, it appeared that some four years ago, when Orhii’s kinsman served as the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, the very sleight of the hand became too attractive that he landed the job. The precedent, against the declaration of the statutes, has been the subject of recrimination and professional controversies.

    Indeed, sensing that they were losing grounds professionally and in national relevance with each day that the appointment was sustained, relevant industry professionals have kicked and cried. Inevitably, as the recriminations continued, the administration and delivery of healthcare in the country have faltered steadily. Aggregately, the controversy seems to also be testing the will of the relevant professional group.

    Years ago, following the appointment of Dr. Orhii, a medical doctor and a lawyer from Ushongu Local Council of Benue State, as Director-General of NAFDAC, it seemed that the state had finally nailed the fate of the pharmacists in these matters. Why, for instance, a government would pick a medical doctor and a lawyer to run the affairs of NAFDAC, when the statute books had advised differently, beggars reason.

    Section 9, sub-section 1 of the agency’s establishing statute recommends that: “there shall be appointed for the agency by the President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces on the recommendation of the Minister, a Director General who shall be a person with good knowledge of pharmacy, food and drugs.” Is it possible that in Nigeria, a person who so qualifies would altogether not qualify to register as a professional member of the professional association of pharmacists?

    Is it possible, drawing from the precedence, that the Federal Government could one day appoint someone who does not qualify to register as a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the professional association of qualified legal practitioners in Nigeria, as the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice?

    Pharmacists and several other health sector professionals seem equally incensed that successive governments seem to have been sold the lie that only professionals registered with the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the professional body for qualified and practising medical doctors in Nigeria, can be appointed Ministers of Health, a privilege that seems never extended to other health professionals.

    Pharmacists have repeatedly raised issues on this with both the Minister of Health and the presidency. It has neither yielded a word of contrition nor regrets from the government. Instead, in a clear disrespect of the provisions of fairness as well as the doctrines of the Federal Character, Dr. Orhii’s kinsman, Professor John Ibu from Oju Local Council of Benue State, was earlier in the year appointed chairman of the governing council of NAFDAC. Unlike Orhii, though, Professor Ibu is eminently qualified to chair the board of the governing council.

    A retired academic, Ibu is well respected both in the academic community as well as in his Benue State. A very devout Christian, Ibu has raised his family admirably in the purest traditions of the faith, and his daughter, a medical doctor by training, is today married to the senior pastor of the Dunamis Church, Pastor Enenche.

    With both issues of professional qualification dogging Dr Orhii, and the disrespect of the doctrines of the Federal Character in appointing Professor Ibu from Benue state buffeting the agency, it surely calls for an urgent remedy.

    Orhii, a medical doctor and holder of a degree in law from an American university, has argued that he holds a PhD in Neauropharmacology as a biomedical scientist. He, however, has refrained from stating whether he was qualified to register as a professional member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, as well as the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria. But clearly knowing where his bread is buttered, Orhii has taken advantage of the ensuing silence from the presidency to mount strong lobby initiatives for his confirmation as Director-General for a second tenure. Members of the pharmacy profession have argued that they have the law on their side.

    There seems to abound in the case both moral and legal issues. Following the position of the statutes, it means that anyone occupying the position of the Director-General of NAFDAC must be assumed to be a practising pharmacist since a “good knowledge of pharmacy” cannot be effective outside its practice. Yet, it beggars reason whether anyone is permitted to practise pharmacy professionally when the person is not qualified to be registered as a professional member of the PSN? Will the authorities in the presidency look carefully at the merits of this issue and in their quiet, silent refrain swiftly serve Orhii a notice of “service no longer required” to permit it to not only correct the anomaly but to also pick a professional who is from outside of Benue State?

    To have kept Orhii at NAFDAC these past four years is a mistake only excusable by the understanding that the government must not be made to lose face. But to stretch his stay in the place beyond one tenure is a grave affront on the rule of law and a disservice to Nigerians. On the legal implications of this, the Attorney-General has a duty to prepare a memo to the presidency on this. Dr. Orhii could, however, be redeployed to some agency that does not create professional misgivings on the overall programmes of government.

     

    •Onubogu is a public relations consultant based in Benin City.

  • Nigeria, Cameroon sign fact on fake drugs

    Nigeria, Cameroon sign fact on fake drugs

    In a move to check the movement and circulation of fake and substandard drugs in the country, Nigeria Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cameroon.

    The MoU is expected to curb movement of fake drugs within the two countries.

    The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Cameroon Standard and Quality Agency signed for their respective countries in Abuja.

    In his remark, the Director- General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, said the counterfeiting of products has been a major problem.

    He admitted that the agency has been having hectic time dealing with counterfeiters because of the sophistication in printing technology and the globalization of the counterfeiting business.

    He said that Nigeria is at the forefront of efforts to ensure that activities of the counterfeiters are brought under check.

    He, however, stressed that this is only achievable with the cooperation of other countries.

    Orhii said, “Counterfeiting of products has been a major problem. The counterfeiters have devised ways because of the sophistication in printing technology and the globalization of the counterfeiting business had become very highly complicated to deal with and one country alone cannot deal with this problem.

    “That is why Nigeria is at the forefront of making sure that we come together to form international coalition to fight the menace of counterfeiting. If we come together as a region, we can form a block that can stop fake drugs from coming to our countries.”

    He also commended the Cameroonian delegation for the initiative.

    He said: “I thank you for extending this hand of partnership that you said you want us to do for the benefit of our countries. Yours is a relatively younger agency, ours had been there but we are still learning. We share borders and a lot of product go from Nigeria to Cameroon and back from Cameroon to Nigeria. Therefore, it makes sense that we have to move together to make sure that these products that go across our borders are safe.”

    The Head of Cameroonian delegation who is also the Director General of Cameroon Standard and Quality Agency, Dr. Charls Booto n’Ngon, said: “The MoU is to enhance cooperation between our country and Nigeria and to reinforce the application of standard and the respect of specification for all products which come to Nigeria from Cameroon and those that come to Cameroon from Nigeria . That is the main objective of our being here.

    “Since Nigeria and Cameroon have been into cooperation for a long time, we want to reinforce the protection of our people. We have come to Abuja to sign a memorandum of understanding with NAFDAC for the benefit of our people. We will also make arrangements with our high commissioner for Dr .Orhii to come to Cameroon so that we can finalise everything to enhance this cooperation.”