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Tag: NAFDAC

  • Onitsha traders give NAFDAC expired drugs

    •Drugs worth N25m

    Traders at the Bridge Head Drug Market, Onitsha, Anambra State, yesterday voluntarily handed over expired drugs worth over N25 million to the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

    The Chairman of Onitsha Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers Union (OPPMDU), Kenneth Nwosu, while handing over the drugs to Dr Christiana Esenwah, assistant director of NAFDAC in-charge of Onitsha Special Zonal Office, said most of the expired drugs were submitted to the union executives voluntarily.

    Nwosu noted that some were seized by the Task Force against Expired, Fake and Sub-standard Drugs.

    His words: “They are products of many pharmaceutical companies within and outside the country. We also handed over a handful of fake drugs discovered by the Task Force,” he said.

    Nwosu said the union had re-enforced its Task Force to enable members to work round the clock.

    He said: “The Task Force will track down any suspicious product or their dealers.

    “We have also opened more channels of information flow between the traders and the Task Force. People can now drop information in a box without mentioning their names,” he said.

    Mrs. Esenwah praised the traders for their bold initiative.

    Esenwah said: “This bold initiative is a giant stride to rid the market and Onitsha of expired drugs.

    “This goes a long way to show that NAFDAC partnership with traders in its fight against fake, sub-standard and adulterated drugs is yielding anticipated results.

    “We are grateful for this step of ridding this market of unwholesome, expired, fake and sub-standard drugs for the benefit of all.”

    She, however, said the agency was still looking up to the market executives to do more.

     

  • Honour for NAFDAC in Anambra

    Honour for NAFDAC in Anambra

    The hall was filled to capacity with eminent personalities tapping to background music.

    It was a fitting atmosphere for the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), honoured that day with an award.

    It was organised by the National Association of Nigerian Traditional Medicine Practitioners (NANTMP) in the state, led by John-Mary Ibeka in association with JMI, Home Ventures Limited.

    The group did not only honour NAFDAC Southeast Head, Charles Nwachukwu; the President-General of Agulu Peoples Union (APU) Chief Paulinus Aniagbaso was equally recognised.

    Ibeka said the awards were in recognition of what the recipients had done in the service of the people. The honour coincided with rendering account of his stewardship at NANTMP in the last one year.

    Nwachukwu chaired the event which held at the prestigious Sun-City Hotels in Awka. He described members of NANTMP as “healers of the society.”

    The award, he said was special to NAFDAC because the drug agency had been partners of PMI whose drugs are said to be safe for consumption.

    “I believe in the practice of herbal medicine; most of the raw materials we use in producing drugs emanated from plant sources; we are a tropical region and we are blessed because most of our plants have helped in curing some diseases

    “Most of the drugs from India and China are herbal; everybody is clamouring for their drugs because they are well-packaged and from good environment too. If we will do like them, I bet you, Nigerian drugs will be better than theirs,” he said

    The occasion equally attracted traditional rulers of Agulu, Igwe innocent Obodoako and his colleague from Inyi in Achi Local government area of Enugu State, Igwe Ambrose Osuigwe.

    Also, the Vice President, International UN-POLAC, Rev. Dr. Chidi Ehiriedo, and former Director of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Sir Jeff Ogbalu, among others.

    Speakers took turns to praise NANTMP members’ efforts in the state and indeed, Southeast, adding that some unscrupulous elements in the business had tried to ridicule the group with fakes.

    Speaking with Newsextra, the state coordinator of NANTMP, Ibeka said that the group is focused on four major areas: vision, idealism, right values and inspiration.

    However, the headache they are having, according to him, is for President Goodluck Jonathan to assent to the traditional medicine bill which has been passed by the National Assembly.

    Ibeka said: “NANTMP is an association of people who are genuinely interested and involved in healthcare delivery, education and scientific work as well as conservation and utilisation of medicinal plants.”

    ”Bearing this in mind, I have over the past one year, coordinated enlightenment and sensitisation programme with the result that these plant medicinal uses and curative effect on humans and other animals are becoming increasingly obvious as distinct from what was regarded as “Magic” or “fetish” claims of most traditional medicine practitioners’’

    “It is  important traditional medicine board was established in appreciation of the vision of NANTMP, with the sole aim of protecting the interest, as well as monitoring and humanising the activities of traditional medicine practitioners, so far, we have not fallen out of line’’

    “What we share in NANTMP is all about qualitative delivery through Phyto-medicine, which is as old as man on earth.”

    “Our forefathers used the various herbs for their medicine, cosmetics and as foods.”

    “Through my personal NGO, John-Mary Ibeka foundation, I have rendered selfless services, through health enlightenment programme in rural and urban areas, free computer laboratory tests and other medical services, scholarship to indigent youths, vocational empowerment progamme in the production of various herb as well as lectures on the importance of natural food and drugs,” he said.

     

  • ‘Don’t merge NAFDAC, SON’

    ‘Don’t merge NAFDAC, SON’

    Former Minister for Industry Chief Mrs. Nike Akande has thrown her weight behind the Orosanye panel that ministries, development and agencies (MDAS) be streamlined to make them more responsive. She cited the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) as duplication of functions, arguing that such multiplicity leads to high cost of doing business in the country.

    She expressed optimism that government would come up with the best solution after the consideration of the panel’s report.

    But the Chairman of DN Meyer, Mr. Remi Omotoso, kicked against the recommendation that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) be merged. He said the agencies perform different functions.

    Omotoso argued that the agencies should not be merged, warning that if the Federal Government merges them, the citizens would be worse for it.

    According to him, SON was set up with a mandate to formulate standards for industries and ensure that fake and substandard goods are not allowed into the country while NAFDAC concerns itself with matters relating to food and drugs regulations and administration.

    He warned that if the minority canvassing for the merger of the agencies is allowed to have its way, the nation will go back to where it was before NAFDAC had a dynamic director-general in Prof Dora Akunyili who fought importers of fake and substandard drugs into the country with impunity.

    He commended NAFDAC for going a step further to track drugs imported into the country and cut down the influx of fake drugs from Asian countries.

    Merging the agencies, he said, would make them to become unmanageable. Instead of a merger, he urged the Federal Government to look into the constraints of SON with a view to strengthening it and making it more effective and dynamic like NFDAC.

    The DN Meyer chief noted that SON may be overwhelmed by the myriad of goods imported into the country through various countries, adding that this may be a result of its limited human and material resources.

    He insisted that there can only be an effective SON if its management is committed, arguing that the must be a conscious effort by government to reduce the volume imported goods into the country so as to narrow its search for substandard goods.

  • NAFDAC and democracy dividends

    SIR: Contrary to the incessant accusation of non-performance heaped on the administration President Goodluck Jonathan, a lot is being silently achieved in an attempt to garner numerous democracy dividends for the Nigerian citizenry. A monumental achievement is being made in the nation’s health sector by the Paul B. Orhii-led National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)

    Aside successfully securing the adoption of emerging sophistications in technological paraphernalia for anti-pharmaceuticals counterfeiting, which has empowered consumers to independently detect and discard fake, counterfeited or cloned drugs, series of dynamic and pro-life elongating achievements have indeed been recorded by the Orhii-led NAFDAC management team.

    Just recently, another feather was added to the agency’s cap when it secured a court conviction against the producers of the much publicized killer teething mixture known as “My Pikin”, which killed 89 Nigerian children. This, of course, is in addition to other several court convictions also recorded by NAFDAC in drug- counterfeited offences and cases between 2009 to date, a positive development that confers on Dr. Orhii the status of a premier NAFDAC chief executive to have achieved this feat since the agency’s inception.

    Interestingly, efforts are underway to ensure that a sizeable aspect of assets forfeited by convicted drug counterfeiters are channeled towards compensating victims of the heinous act. Already, the agency, has sustained its zero tolerance to the prevalence of counterfeited pharmaceuticals in Nigeria as evidenced in its recent extension of cooperation to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) nationwide.

    The NAFDAC’s sustained battle against die-hard counterfeiters of pharmaceutical products is being locally and internationally acknowledged. This is in spite of the fact that the agency is making frantic moves to unveil novel strategies and solutions targeted towards providing backups to those already in existence.

    The driving force behind these stellar innovations cannot be likened to a prophet without honour at home because recently President Jonathan recently honoured the NAFDAC boss with the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) award. There have been other appreciation and awards. The latest is the June 24 award of Special Congressional Recognition in far away United States of America. It was an endorsement orchestrated by a notable American Congress woman, Janice Hahn. The presentation was made at a well attended reception held in the James Madison Hall at the historic Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.

    One of the intrinsic dividends of all these efforts and initiatives is the leap in the status and reputation of Nigeria as a nation committed to the cause of ensuring that only standardized and genuine pharmaceuticals are provided for the people. Through standardization of healthcare provision, the brain drain syndrome that has remained a big worry in the sector is checked, while the right and proper health services are within the reach of all irrespective of financial and societal status.

    For Dr. Paul Bortwev Orhii, Nigerians are yet to see his best!

     

    • Martins F.O. Ikhilae,

    Lagos

  • Nafdac’s DG bags Us Congressional Award

    Nafdac’s DG bags Us Congressional Award

    Additional honours poured in for the Director General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, as he received the US Special Congressional Recognition for his global frontline role in the fight against drug counterfeiting.

    The US Special Congressional Recognition, which took place at a colourful ceremony in the Madison Hall of Prestigious Library of Congress, Capitol Hill, Washington DC, followed last year’s conferment of the national honour of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) on Orhii by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    His recognition, which was endorsed by Congress Member, Jalice Hahn, was the initiative of the National Association for Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) headed by Dr. Shelton Hilary.

    The US Council on Foreign Relations had last year invited the Director General of NAFDAC more than four times to make presentations on Nigeria’s successes in the fight against drug counterfeiting through the use of innovative modern cutting-edge technologies.

    The presentation was said to have formed part of the report submitted to the White House for consideration at the last G8 Summit hosted by President Barak Obama.

    In his acceptance speech, Dr. Orhii seized the moment to once again draw global attention to the growing menace of drug resistance strains caused by counterfeit medicines which currently has international market value of $200 billion annually, according to the World Custom Organisation.

  • Ebonyi warns medicine dealers

    Ebonyi State Patent and proprietary medicine dealer found stocking or selling regulated drugs in the state would be prosecuted Ebonyi State government warned yesterday.

    The Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Health, Mr Hyacinth Oteh, gave the warning in Abakaliki during a one-day sensitisation workshop for patent medicine dealers organised by the state government in conjunction with National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

    He said that controlled or regulated drugs have potential for abuse, adding that this necessitated the regulation of their use.

    According to him, controlled drugs require a doctor to prescribe and a pharmacist to dispense.

    “Since patent and proprietary medicine vendors are neither doctors nor pharmacists, the simple logic is that they have no business with the sale of controlled drugs.

    “Any patent medicine vendor found to be stocking or selling those products is breaching the law and needs to be prosecuted,” he said.

    Ote explained that a vendor was expected to confine himself to the sale of the ‘Over the Counter drugs’.

    “Abuse of drugs may lead to psychological and physical dependence,” he noted.

    Mr Ralph Igwenagu, Ebonyi Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency advised medicine vendors to avoid been used as a tool in the distribution and sale of illegal psychoactive substances.

    “This warning has become necessary because of your proximity to the people. You must resist this temptation at all cost.

    “Drug abuse has the devastating consequences of social and health related problems such as road and industrial accidents, breakdown of families, increased criminal activities among others,” he said.

    Chief Simon Nweze, State President, National Association of Patent And Proprietary Medicine Dealers said the workshop would help update their members with the necessary knowledge in the fight against illicit drugs, trafficking, purchase and sell of substandard drugs.

  • NAFDAC arrests 14 over fake custard product in Abia

    NAFDAC arrests 14 over fake custard product in Abia

    THE National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), yesterday arrested 14 workers of a counterfeiting company for faking Gold Custard, manufactured by Lisabi Mills Nigeria Limited. According to the agency’s Director-General, Dr Paul Orhii, the faker is at large but those arrested would help NAFDAC to apprehend the erring manufacturer. He said the agency was collaborating with stakeholders in the fight against rd/ spurious/falsified/falsely labeled/counterfeit (SSFFC) regulated product. Orhi said NAFDAC received a complaint on the faked product on April 2 this year and directed the Federal Task force to investigate it to being the culprit to book. “The result of the investigation showed that different brands of food products were being counterfeited and sold in the market. “Further investigation took the taskforce to Cemetery or Eziukwu Market in Aba, Abia State, where an organised illegal food production facility was located. Truck loads of the faked product were seen being dispatched.”

  • NAFDAC: Using hi-tech to fight fake drugs

    NAFDAC: Using hi-tech to fight fake drugs

    Counterfeiting and faking of drugs and food substances have become a global industry, so also are the worries and concerns over the development. Particularly for Nigeria, the challenge has been the impetus needed to frontally and aggressively confront the menace. To the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria’s health boosting agency, falls that responsibility. The efforts of the Dr. Paul B. Orhii-led agency, especially its deployment of cutting edge technologies to fight and win the anti-counterfeit drugs war has gained global recognition.

    Take Truscan. NAFDAC’s successful deployment of this technology brought it global consciousness. There are also Black Eye and Radio Frequency Identification system (RFID). I hasten to add the Mobile Authentication Service (MAS), the world’s first anti-counterfeiting contraption which uses the SMS platform. Dr. Orhii is enthralled by MAS, especially for its cost effectiveness and immediacy of result. The simplicity of MAS is awesome. The programme involves the packaging of drugs with a scratch card placed on drug packs from the point of manufacture. When scratched, the hidden codes revealed on the packs could be sent free of charge via SMS to 38353 on the MTN, Zain and Globacom networks. Shortly afterwards, the sender will receive a reply confirming whether the product is genuine or not.

    Fantastic you will say! What it means is that NAFDAC may finally have succeeded in placing the responsibility of detecting counterfeit drugs in the hands of Nigeria’s over 114 million mobile phone subscribers. It will thrill you to no end to know that the agency is applauded globally as the world’s first drug regulatory authority to deploy and use hand-held devices at borders for on-the-spot detection of counterfeit medicines with resounding successes!

    While MAS may be a first choice because of its mass involvement appeal, Black Eye, Radio Frequency Identification system and Truscan equally have their own attractions. Black Eye has the capacity to screen multiple drug samples at the same time. This is how it goes: It compares a tablet that you are trying to check and tell you whether it is genuine or fake; and if you ask from the machine, it will break the product down into its active pharmaceutical ingredients; if counterfeited, it could reveal the inactive pharmaceutical ingredients. It is a ready tool in the hands of NAFDAC’s operatives because it can take up to 1000 different tablets at the same time and break them down and tell you which one is good or bad.

    The Radio Frequency Identification system has the ability to track and trace regulated foods and medicines and also prevent the forgery of sensitive documents. As hinted above, Truscan is a hand-held device using Roman Spectroscopy to detect counterfeit products. With this technology, NAFDAC officials can quickly scan imported products at the ports and release them on time without compromising their quality. Nigeria is now the first country in the world to use it to detect quality of medicines. Truscan’s efficacy is underlined by the glowing tribute from Roxy Nader of the London-based independent information provider on country risk and industry research, Business Monitor International. Nader, an authority on Nigerian pharmaceutical market has this to say on the agency’s deployment of Truscan: “NAFDAC has recorded a major food and drug regulatory milestone with the acquisition of the Truscan device”. It is instructive to know that following its success in Nigeria, the Food and Drug Administration agencies in the United States, Germany, Sweden, Canada etc, have also started using it.

    So much is the public confidence in the technology-driven war against counterfeit and fake drugs and food items in Nigeria by NAFDAC that critical stakeholders in the sector are ready to throw in everything and synergise with the agency to win the war. Removing the burden of tariff payment from consumers of the drug is a veritable incentive for its use. And so, key stakeholders in the sector (drug manufacturers) have come to the aid of consumers by accepting to fund it, although it is currently applicable to malaria drugs and antibiotics, being products most cloned and adulterated by the murderous counterfeiters. The NAFDAC has assured that efforts are also on to extend the service to other general purpose drugs.

    The Mobile Authentication Service guarantees befitting and enduring positive corporate image for pharmaceutical companies and their products, thus ensuring high level product patronage with the attendant high revenue yield for such firms. For pharmaceutical companies that are reluctant to key into the strategy because of its perceived cost implications, they might have placed higher premiums on profitability than the lives of their customers. From the larger interest of the society, this attitude is unpatriotic.

    Let me say unequivocally that Dr Orhii’s ongoing revolution in NAFDAC has succeeded in placing Nigeria in the league of serious countries of the world ready to do anything to protect their people from the merchants of death that drug counterfeiters have become.

    • Ikhilae, is a Lagos-based public affairs analyst

  • Packaged water business hits N8bn daily, says NAFDAC

    THE regular usage of bottled water in Nigeria generates N8billion every day, the Director General of NAFDAC, Paul Orhii, has revealed.

    Orhii made this disclosure in Abuja during a press briefing.

    He said: “Packaged water constitutes more than 8billion naira business a day in Nigeria.”

    Orhii noted that over 167 million Nigerians drink packaged water a day.

    He disclosed that since the country began the business of packaged water, it has helped in the reduction of water- borne diseases.

    Orhii said: “To clean it up, we have compiled a data base of all water manufacturing companies and we are inspecting them to make sure that the water is of good quality.”

    The NAFDAC boss stressed the need for regulation in the business, saying: “We want to make sure it is well regulated. We take water business very seriously.”

  • NAFDAC parades ‘fake drugs’ merchant’

    NAFDAC parades ‘fake drugs’ merchant’

    The road has ended for Mr. Olisaemeka Osefor who claimed to be representing a cartel of drug counterfeiters based in China. According to him, the cartel specialises in the production and shipment of various counterfeit drug products into the Nigerian market.

    Osefor was allegedly caught in the act last week by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

    With his team, he was said to have successfully shipped into the country, various brands fake drug products worth over N106.2 million into the country.

    Acting on a tip-off, operatives of the Enforcement and Investigation Directorate of the Agency stormed a warehouse at Progressive Traders Market, which is known for the sale of jewelry and cosmetic products within the Trade Fair Complex along Badagry Expressway, Lagos. The fake products were said to have been cleverly concealed in plain cartons and sacs.

    Some counterfeit drugs impounded from them included: Skineal Cream, Funbact-A cream, Mycoten Cream, Neurogesic Ointment, Rough Rider Condom, Iman Luxury powder and healing balm.

    Parading Osefor before reporters at the agency’s office in Oshodi, Lagos, its Director-General, Dr.Paul Orhii described Osefor’s arrest as among one of the ground-breaking efforts the agency had made in recent times, noting: “Latest findings had proved drug counterfeiters now operate from markets that deal in other commodities to shield their dubious activities from law-enforcement agencies.”

    Admitting that the agency cannot win the war alone, Orhii urged all Nigerians to join hands with NAFDAC to combat the menace and also pledged monetary reward for any member of the public, landlord and market union, whose report would lead to uncovering of any suspicious activity relating to NAFDAC-regulated product around their communities..

    Reiterating that China remained a problem in the fight against fake drugs in Nigeria, Orhii threatened that NAFDAC would begin prosecution of owners of warehouses used in stocking fake drugs.

    The agency’s Director of Enforcement, Mr.Garba Macdonald, said his officers would step up intensive surveillance to consolidate on the achievements so far recorded in its fight against fake drugs.

    Osefor was said to have confessed to being in business with a cartel based in China, from where the fake products were sourced. He also allegedly added that their collaborators were at the Tin Can Island Port where they illegally clear their consignments on arrival.