The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has reaffirmed its commitment to achieving medicine security in Nigeria through robust regulatory systems, strengthened local manufacturing, and sustained policy implementation.
Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, stated this virtually during the second plenary session of the 98th Annual National Conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) held in Kano. She emphasised that medicine security remains non-negotiable for Nigeria’s public health and economic resilience.
Adeyeye recalled that medicine insecurity, which became pronounced in the 1980s and 1990s due to weak regulatory oversight and proliferation of substandard products, led to the establishment of NAFDAC in 1993. Decades later, she said, the agency remains focused on strengthening regulatory systems and ensuring equitable access to quality-assured medical products for all Nigerians.
She identified strong regulatory institutions, good manufacturing practices, functional supply chains, and effective inter-agency collaboration as essential pillars of medicine security. According to her, “for any country to guarantee the safety, efficacy, and availability of its medicines, its regulatory agency must be strong, transparent, well-equipped, and scientifically driven.”
Presenting updates on ongoing initiatives, Adeyeye explained that NAFDAC has introduced several policy instruments — including the 5 Plus 5 Directive, Ceiling List, and Facility Layout Review Guidelines — all aimed at boosting local production capacity and phasing out importation of selected medicines already manufactured in Nigeria.
She disclosed that, as of October 2024, the agency had approved 161 new or retrofitted facility layouts, comprising 16 new pharmaceutical factories and six medical device plants now active across the country. Contract manufacturing, she noted, has expanded from 30 firms in 2019 to over 87 in 2024, resulting in a sharp drop in pharmaceutical imports from 4.7 billion units in 2021 to 1.1 billion in 2024.
“These results are not coincidental,” she said. “They are the direct impact of data-driven regulatory directives, scientific evaluation, and sustained engagement with the pharmaceutical industry.”
The NAFDAC boss further highlighted the rise in co-investments and technology transfer partnerships between Nigerian and foreign firms as proof of renewed investor confidence in the country’s manufacturing environment.
She added that the agency’s traceability initiative has enhanced supply chain visibility, allowing NAFDAC to track medical products from manufacturer to patient — a step designed to curb circulation of substandard and falsified medicines.
“The goal,” Adeyeye stated, “is to ensure that every clinic, health facility, and patient in Nigeria has reliable access to safe, effective, and affordable medicines. We are not yet where we should be, but we are miles ahead of where we began.”
Reacting to her presentation, panelists including Pharm. Valentine Okelu, managing director of Neimeth Pharmaceuticals; and Mr Gaby Al-Aridi, general manager of Afrimedical Manufacturing and Supplies Limited, commended NAFDAC’s leadership while urging sustained access to long-term financing and continued technical capacity development to complement regulatory progress.
The session, chaired by Pharm. Anthony Akhimien, a past PSN President, also featured Pharm. Uzoma Ezeoke, executive director, Emzor Pharma Industries Limited; Pharm. Bankole Ezebuilo, national chairman, NAIP; and Pharm. Kingsley Ekwunife as moderator. It ended with a consensus that pharmacists and regulators must work collaboratively to consolidate Nigeria’s march toward full medicine security and self-sufficiency.
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