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Tag: NAFDAC

  • On health professionals and NAFDAC’s boss

    On health professionals and NAFDAC’s boss

    In recent time, some Nigerians have taken delight in churning out negative stories about the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) as a body or on the person of the Director-General, Dr. Paul Orhii. While the agency has its mechanisms to respond to such issues as raised, one is tempted to react to the spurious, ill-informed and jaundiced view of a hired writer, Sylvester Onubogu, which he titled Health professionals and NAFDAC’s boss, Orhii, published in The Nation on Sunday newspaper (December 8, 2013). Onubogu wasted a valuable page making the trite argument about the qualifications of the Director-General of NAFDAC, a medical doctor, lawyer and PhD holder in neuro-pharmacology, to head the agency, where in the last four years he has midwifed the agency’s growth and efficiency to the extent that today it is adjudged the foremost food and drug regulatory agency in Africa and one of the top 20 in the world by international bodies.

    Let me state from the outset that this write-up would not have been necessary because Orhii’s qualification to head NAFDAC and the groundbreaking record he has achieved in the agency was recognised by no less a body than the World Health Organisation (WHO), which just recently appointed Orhii the Chair of the Member State Mechanism (MSM), which is a body with such eminent members like the USA, Canada, EU countries, India, China and Brazil; a body consisting of about 193 countries committed to the fight against Spurious, Substandard, Fake, Falsely-labelled Counterfeit (SSFFC) medicines. Appointment to this exalted position involves a lot of high level meeting where candidates’ qualifications, records and achievements in their countries are thoroughly scrutinised by other medicine regulatory agencies in the world.

    It thus beggars belief that a man who has done so well in his assignment at home and who has gone further to prove his mettle at the world stage is the same person Onubogu and his faceless sponsors will want to cast aspersions on and as unqualified for the position he is holding. The big question here is who are these detractors undermining Orhii as a person and Nigeria as a nation even where Orhii is acknowledged as one of the leading lights of the transformation agenda of the Jonathan administration? It is no doubt that through the Orhii-led NAFDAC, Nigerian industries in the food and drug sectors have been well positioned by NAFDAC’s regulatory efforts to not only sell their products locally but to compete internationally through exports so as to bring back the glory days of the past where Nigeria was Africa’s major and best exporter. It is the same groundbreaking success that is being recorded in enforcement activities where Orhii has introduced cutting-edge technologies that has made it impossible for counterfeiters to escape detection and where also for the first time in the history of NAFDAC the most deterring convictions were secured by the agency, making sure that criminals caught in the act are made to serve long jail sentences that will serve as warning to others.

    This writer concentrated his attack on Orhii and the fact that he is not a member of the relevant pharmacy bodies in Nigeria. But the fact is if his argument is taken into consideration based on the provisions of the law he quoted to support his arguments, the person occupying the office of the Director-General can be 1) Food scientist 2) Medical doctor 3) Pharmacist or any of the science disciplines based on their experiences in food and drug matters. As a matter of fact, in the name NAFDAC, food is mentioned before drugs. Or is Onabolu saying that a pharmacist can double as a food technologist?

    There is simply no gainsaying the fact that NAFDAC as an agency is not an island unto itself and its structure, set up and activities are aligned with those of similar agencies performing similar roles in countries all over the world. The precedence set up by food and drug regulatory agencies in the world is experts who come from such varied disciplines like medicine, law, pharmacy, engineering, political science and various other fields are appointed to the headship of such agencies by their governments based on proven track record of achievements. More instructively, the United States Food and Drug Regulatory Agency (FDA), towards which NAFDAC is patterned has been headed by 21 Food and Drug Commissioners. Out of these 21 commissioners, 13 were medical doctors, including the current commissioner, Margaret Hamburg, MD. And at various times, a veterinarian, scientists, a lawyer and only one pharmacist has headed that body so far since its inception in 1906.

    Looking at other developed countries, the heads of the food and drugs regulatory agencies come from highly varied fields, which breakdown is as follows: Belgium, Dr. Xavier De Cuyper, graduate of Agric. Engineering; Brazil, Dr. Dirceu Bras Aparecido, specialist in Bio Pharmacognocy; Canada, Kathryn McDade, Political Science and Administration; European Commission, Dr. Andrzej Rys, Medical doctor and radiologist; European Medicine Agency, Prof. Guido Rasi, Medicine and Surgery specialist; Mexico, Mikel Arriola Penalosa, Lawyer; Netherlands, Dr. Aginus Kalis, Medical doctor; New Zealand, Dr. Stewart Jessamine, Medical doctor and general practitioner; Singapore, Dr. John Lim, Medical doctor; Switzerland, Jurg H. Schnetzer, Lawyer and graduate of business administration; UK, Dr. Ian Hudson, Physician and Paediatrician.

    So where is the argument of Onubogu and his faceless sponsors?

    Dr. Osifo writes from Benin-City, Edo State.

  • 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.

  • NAFDAC’s war against fake drugs’ merchants

    NAFDAC’s war against fake drugs’ merchants

    Since inception, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has been battling counterfeiters, but is the agency winning the war against fake drugs? JOSEPH JIBUEZE highlight’s the agency’s efforts to rid the country of harmful food and medicine.

    Many Nigerians, especially relatives of affected families, will not forget November 2008 in a hurry. It was the month that a monumental tragedy struck, claiming tens of lives of infants across the country. The children were victims of the contaminated baby teething syrup, My Pikin.

    The tragedy was mostly prevalent in Kaduna State, but reports of fatalities also came from Ibadan, Oyo State capital, and Lagos.

    It was a testy time for the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), as it was bombarded with calls and reports of the adverse drug reaction.

    The agency began a painstaking investigation into the tragic deaths. Its preliminary investigations showed that no fewer than 84 children died from ingesting My Pikin, manufactured by Barewa Pharmaceutical Limited.

    The deceased children suffered similar symptoms of renal failure and inability to pass urine.

    After identifying the particular batches of the lethal baby teething mixture that was responsible for the deaths, the agency went on a public enlightenment campaign, and directed a mop-up of the product from all shops nationwide.

    Tests revealed that batches 01908 and 02008 of the mixture contained a deadly compound called diethylene glycol, a harmful contaminant.

    NAFDAC promptly directed the sealing up of the production company, and arrested the firm’s Managing Director Kola Okunola, Production Manager Abiodun Adeyemo and Quality Assurance Manager Austine Eremosele.

    The three were charged at the Federal High Court in Lagos and were arraigned before Justice Okechukwu Okeke on March 5, 2009. Although Okunola died before the trial was concluded, Adeyemo and Eremosele were jailed for seven years each on May 17 this year.

    The accused persons were found guilty of conspiracy to produce and sell dangerous drugs. The court ordered that the company be wound up, and its assets forfeited to the Federal Government. They have, however, appealed against the judgment.

    “A judgment of this magnitude has never happened before. This is the first time in the last 20 years since NAFDAC was established that we’ll have this kind of judgment.

    “This is a reflection of NAFDAC Director-General Dr Paul Orhii’s determination to end the incidence of fake drugs in Nigeria and I would like to urge him to do more,” said Mr Lawrance Nwosu, Country Manager of Sproxil Nigeria Limited.

     

    Impact of fake drugs

     

    Fake drugs have serious health implications. When patients are denied access to quality medicines, there could be treatment failures and deaths; increased hospital admissions, drug resistance, increased cost of controlling diseases, increased expenses, human suffering, loss of confidence in the health care system and increased burden health management.

    Counterfeiting can apply to both branded and generic products, and may include those with the correct ingredients, with the wrong ingredients, without active ingredients, with insufficient active ingredients or with fake packing.

    Drug counterfeiters target medicines that are used in high volume for managing diseases of public health, such as anti-malaria medications, anti-biotics, anti-hypertensives, anti-diabetic agents and lifestyle drugs.

    NAFDAC has sought to impose stiffer penalty for drug counterfeiting. It has proposed a review of the law establishing it to provide for life sentence, confiscation of offenders’ assets and forfeiture of such assets.

    The new law also seeks to compensate victims of fake drugs where the product is found to be the proximate cause of severe bodily injury, and to make counterfeiting a non-bailable offence. When passed, it will contain a whistle-blower clause.

    The Federal Executive Council is said to have already reviewed the draft and will soon pass it as Executive Bill to the National Assembly for enactment.

    “While such measure might not bring back lost lives, it is certainly going to be more effective than the existing laughable law of 15 years maximum jail term or N500,000 option of fine which is merely a slap on the wrist of offenders,” Orhii said.

    Apart from the My Pikin case, NAFDAC has secured five other convictions for fake drug offences while more than 1254 cases are pending in various courts.

    The agency recently paraded a man who brought in a consignment of fake drugs worth about N39million.

    The agency has continued to make arrests and to destroy fake drugs worth billions of naira. For instance, in 2009, NAFDAC officers intercepted a huge consignment of almost 700,000 doses of fake clones of a popular Indian anti-malaria drug. It was labeled as “Made in India.”

    But on further investigation, the drug was found to be made in China. NAFDAC, working with the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, was able to secure the arrest of six Chinese involved in the illicit deal. They were eventually sentenced to death.

    More than N20 billion worth of drugs and other substandard regulated products has been destroyed by NAFDAC since 2009.

     

    Using technology to

    fight counterfeiting

     

    NAFDAC has adopted public enlightenment, collaborations, capacity building, and technology in the fight against counterfeit drugs.

    It airs health programmes on various television and radio stations. It has collaborated with security agencies, professional bodies and communities based organisations in a joint effort to rid the country of fake and substandard food and drugs.

    NAFDAC staff have undergone over 4,608 local and international trainings between 2009 and April 2013.

    The agency has deployed technologies such as TruScan, Black Eye, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Mini lab and Mobile Authentication Service in the fake drug fight.

    TruScan is a handheld device used for on-the-spot detection of counterfeit medicines, enabling regulators and law enforcement agents to conduct field-based screening of pharmaceutal samples to quickly and accurately identify fake drugs.

    The RFID is used to verify regulated products and documents, allowing the agency to track product movement from production to the consumer, while preventing forgery.

    The mini-lab test kits is a reliable, simple and inexpensive method of detecting counterfeit medicines, while the Black Eye (Infrared) is a bench-top equipment also used to detect fake drugs.

    Through the mobile authentication service, NAFAC enables more than 80 million Nigerian mobile phone users to confirm the genuineness of drugs before ingesting them.

    The technology deploys the text messaging system. A Personal Identification Number (PIN) is provided on the drug sachets, and when sent by sms to a short-code, the patient will receive an instant prompt that the medicine is either safe or not.

    NAFDAC is actively encouraging the local pharmaceutical industry to work towards attaining World Health Organisation (WHO) prequalification of their products, which facilitates access to medicines that meet unified standards of quality, safety and efficacy for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

    The agency, in collaboration with the Bank of Industry (BOI) is facilitating the creation of a Pharmaceutical Development Fund to enhance the growth of local drug industry.

     

    Food regulatory activities

     

    According to studies conducted by NAFDAC from 2001 to last year, there is a progressive decrease in the incidence of counterfeit medicines in Nigeria.

    A national survey on quality of medicines shows that counterfeit drugs stood at 6.6 per cent last year, as against 16.7 per cent in 2005 and 40 per cent in 2001, NAFDAC said.

    To deliver on its mandate of ensuring availability of safe and wholesome food, NAFDAC has collaborated with international agencies such as UNICEF to tackle malnutrition through fortification of food vehicles such as vegetable oil, flour, sugar and margarines with Vitamin A and other micro nutrients.

    It is working towards achieving 100 per cent universal salt iodisation target in a bid to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders in Nigeria.

    The agency registered 14,018 food products between 2009 and last year, and is working to ensure that the fast food industry complies with good hygienic practice to avoid food borne illnesses.

    From 2009 to date, the agency has registered over 18,000 water products and has provided training, laboratory analysis, advisory inspections and consultative meetings with the operators in the sector.

    Last year, NAFDAC re-certified all registered packaged water in Nigeria and trained their producers.

     

    Funding constraints

     

    NAFDAC said it pays 25 per cent of its internally generated revenue to the federation account and spends more than 60 per cent of its budget on fighting drug counterfeiting.

    It had a budget of N9, 117,569,677.56 last year, which included capital, overhead and personnel costs, as well as IGR in a country of 167 million people. NAFDAC’s United States’ counterpart Federal Drug Agency, last year, had a budget of over N700billion to service a population of about 300 million.

    The agency said it spends so much on prosecution of offenders in court, public enlightenment campaigns, and infrastructure renewal, among others.

    Orhii said despite the financial constraints, the agency has adopted a holistic and well coordinated anti-counterfeiting strategy that transcends local, national and international boundaries.

    “Effective regulation is key to ensuring quality and safety of regulated products. NAFDAC is relentlessly working with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that all registered products, irrespective of their origin are of good quality, wholesome, safe and efficacious.

    “I solicit the continued support of all well meaning Nigerians and our stakeholders to enable the agency achieve its mandate of safeguarding the health of the nation,” the agency’s boss said.

  • Agency parades counterfeiters

    Agency parades counterfeiters

    The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has arrested Mr Chijoke Nwagu Victor for manufacturing fake cough syrup.

    The agency’s Director-General, Dr Paul Orhii, said the counterfeiter’s flat has been sealed off.

    Orhii said a Lebanese, Mr Haider Saleh, was also arrested for distribution and sale of some unregistered cosmetic products.

    The products, he said, were concealed in a warehouse at the Trade Fair Complex, Lagos.

    He said the agency has also intercepted a one-by-two feet container marked MSKU 7873861 of pharmaceuticals imported by Ngod’s Success Ventures.

    The NAFDAC boss said the agency seized 58 cartons of printed plastic packaging materials concealed in a one-by-40 feet container for fake cosmetic product to fake the original products.

    “The importer is John Dike Ventures,” he added.

  • NAFDAC boss urges firms to be ethical

    The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has urged pharmaceutical companies to embrace good manufacturing practice (GMP).

    Its Director-General, Dr Paul Orhii, said this would assist them get the World Health Organisation (WHO) prequalification, to enable them export their drugs to the West African sub-region and beyond, adding: “There is a huge benefit for firms with WHO pre-qualification.”

    Orhii, who spoke during a courtesy visit to a pharmaceutical company, Strides Vital Nigeria Limited, said he would not hesitate to recommend any good company to the Federal Government for support in its procurement policy programme.

    He said the company has done very well for itself, stressing that it could do better to promote the pharmaceutical industry.

    Orhii said companies who heed the agency’s call to improve on their product and services will be better for it.

    Its Regional Manager-Generics, Anoop Kumar, said Nigeria was the company major market in Africa.

    He said the company was transferring technology from India to Nigeria to produce soft gel pharmaceutical products.

    Superintendent pharmacist with the company, Mr Emmanuel Ogana, said the visit of NAFDAC was to know if the company complies with good manufacturing practice (GMP).

    He said his organisation would soon start the local production of Anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, adding that: “The only obstacle is the five per cent duty placed on importation of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). This, however, did not apply to finished goods being imported into the country”, he added.

  • NAFDAC boss urges firms to be ethical

    The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has urged pharmaceutical companies to embrace good manufacturing practice (GMP).

    Its Director-General, Dr Paul Orhii, said this would assist them get the World Health Organisation (WHO) prequalification, to enable them export their drugs to the West African sub-region and beyond, adding: “There is a huge benefit for firms with WHO pre-qualification.”

    Orhii, who spoke during a courtesy visit to a pharmaceutical company, Strides Vital Nigeria Limited, said he would not hesitate to recommend any good company to the Federal Government for support in its procurement policy programme.

    He said the company has done very well for itself, stressing that it could do better to promote the pharmaceutical industry.

    Orhii said companies who heed the agency’s call to improve on their product and services will be better for it.

    Its Regional Manager-Generics, Anoop Kumar, said Nigeria was the company major market in Africa.

    He said the company was transferring technology from India to Nigeria to produce soft gel pharmaceutical products.

    Superintendent pharmacist with the company, Mr Emmanuel Ogana, said the visit of NAFDAC was to know if the company complies with good manufacturing practice (GMP).

    He said his organisation would soon start the local production of Anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, adding that: “The only obstacle is the five per cent duty placed on importation of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). This, however, did not apply to finished goods being imported into the country”, he added.

    Ogana said the company is trying to become WHO-approve, adding that only one company in each of South Africa, Morocco and Uganda have WHO pre-qualification.

    He said NAFDAC is happy with the company’s current GMP.

  • 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.

  • NAFDAC boss chairs World Anti-counterfeiting mechanism

    NAFDAC boss chairs World Anti-counterfeiting mechanism

    The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii, last Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland emerged as the first substantive Chair of the world anti-counterfeiting mechanism.

    The over 193 member-nations of the World Health Organisation is a newly created mechanism for the international fight against spurious, substandard and counterfeit medicines.

    A statement signed by Mr. Abubakar Jimoh

    Director (Special Duties), NAFDAC, stated that the high powered and coveted activities leading to the selection of the agency boss as Chair of the MSM actually started in November, 2012 at a meeting convened by WHO in Buenos Aires, Argentina to discuss the structure, headship, tenure, work plan and other issues surrounding the new mechanism established by WHO in 2011.

    Dr. Orhii, according to Jimoh, in his capacity as the Chair, presented the report of the steering committee of the MSM held in July this year to the plenary of the member-nations for consideration.

    Already, congratulatory messages have continued to pour in for the NAFDAC boss.

    Words of commendation and congratulatory messages to Nigeria over Dr. Orhii’s selection as Chair of the MSM on Substandard, Spurious, Falsely-labelled, Falsified and Counterfeit Medical Products (SSFFC Medical Products) came from United States of America, United Kingdom, European Union, Russian Federation, India, China, Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya and sister African countries at the second meeting of the world anti-counterfeiting body on Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland.

  • First cancer machine for Nigeria

    Nigeria will soon get its first positron emission tomograhy (PET) scanner to diagnose and treat cancer, a former Lagos State Health Commissioner Leke Pitan has said.

    The doctor said most cancer cases were not accurately diagnosed because there were no facilities to do so in the country.

    Dr Pitan spoke in Lagos at a capacity-building workshop on the regulation of radiopharmaceuticals, organised by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and MeCure Health Care.

    He said an indigenous company would soon install an aglodrum to manufacture pharmaceutical products to provide materials for PET scanners to operate.

    Dr Pitan said one aglodrum can service 15 PET scanners, adding: “The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends one PET scanner for one million people. By this, Lagos State will need 15 PET scanners to diagnose cancer cases.”

    The former commissioner urged investors to invest in health care for more PET scanners to be installed in Nigeria.

    He advised NAFDAC to be the regulator and facilitator to accelerate the progress of the sector.

    NAFDAC’s Director-General Dr Paul Orhii said radiopharmaceuticals were medicinal formulations containing radioisotopes for administration in humans for diagnosis or therapy.

    He said they were a special group of drugs, which contains a radioactive material, called the nuclide.

    Orhii said: “Due to the extreme sensitivity of the detection modality, they are applied only in trace amounts predominantly for diagnostic purposes and have shown an excellent safety profile.”

    The NAFDAC chief said the agency’s mandate was to ensure the regulation of the product, which has unique features, such as specialised production methods, quality control, dosing, radioactivity and waste disposal.

    Orhii said: “The aim of regulating radiopharmaceuticals, just as every other regulated product, is to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of radiopharmaceutical.

    “Globally, regulation of radiopharmaceuticals is faced with challenges. Some of these include but not limited to the inability of a regulatory authority to make assessment of safety, efficacy and quality required for radiopharmaceuticals basically due to lack of regulatory capacity.”

  • NAFDAC labs get global accreditation

    The Mycotoxin and Pesticides Residues Laboratories of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) at Oshodi, Lagos, have obtained the ISO 17025 accreditation through the American Association of Laboratory Accreditation.

    In a statement in Lagos, NAFDAC’s Director, Special Duties, Abubakar Jimoh, described the accreditation as a major breakthrough for the agency in its regulatory activity.

    The accreditation, which was sponsored by the United Nations Industrial Development (UNIDO), has launched the two laboratories into the league of internationally recognised and respected laboratories.

    NAFDAC’s Director-General Dr. Paul Orhii said: “With the ISO 17025 accreditation of the two laboratories, value-added, agricultural exports, tested and certified by the agency, will now be accepted worldwide without query. This is a major boost to the country’s image and Agricultural Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government.”

    Dr Orhii said all products analysed for export at the two laboratories would henceforth carry a special logo, making them acceptable all over the world.

    Some other laboratories of the agency are also undergoing international accreditation, which would boost the current efforts to get some pharmaceutical companies to obtain World Health Organisation (WHO) pre-qualification,” the NAFDAC chief said.

     

     

    The statement said: “Dr. Orhii thanks UNIDO and the American Association of Laboratory Accreditation for the support and cooperation accorded NAFDAC in attaining this great feat.”