The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, has received 600 pharmacists, who are already working in different fields, into a new initiative – Pharmacists Reserve Volunteer Programme – of the agency in the management’s sustained efforts to frontally address the menace of substandard and falsified drugs and unwholesome food with a view to taking regulation to the doorsteps of all Nigerians.
Welcoming the young pharmacists and administering oath of allegiance on them, she urged them to serve the country with integrity and not succumb to negotiation, noting that in the course of their service they will encounter offers and pressures designed to compromise them.
A statement issued by the agency’s Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, on the inauguration event quoted the Director-General as maintaining that as patriotic Nigerians, they should try to reject such offers, adding that the moment a regulator can be bought, the public loses its only protection.
She explained that the six hundred qualified, service-ready pharmacists, already pursuing their careers in different fields, were selected from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
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Adeyeye explained that each of the volunteer was selected not by chance, but through a deliberate and transparent process that balanced merit, availability, and fair geographic representation, so that no state and no region is left behind in this national effort.
According to her, the Programme is more than an internship or an attachment but an investment in them and through them, in the regulatory future of this country, noting that in the course of the internship they will be exposed to the real work of medicines regulation: pharmacovigilance, compliance monitoring, quality assurance, data collection, and public sensitisation against drug abuse.
The Director-General said they would also learn what it means to stand between the Nigerian public and substandard, falsified, or dangerous products, stressing that the vision behind the programme was to build, over time, a national reserve of working pharmacists who can be called upon at short notice wherever the health of Nigerians is at risk: during a product recall, a suspected circulation of falsified medicines, or an emergency in a hard-to-reach community to volunteer for a few hours or days. .
She disclosed that her ambition was that within the next few years, every state of the federation would have a standing pool of trained, vetted and mobilizable pharmacists working alongside “our state offices, so that NAFDAC’s regulatory presence is felt not only in our laboratories and at our ports of entry, but in every market, community pharmacy, patent medicine store and primary health centre in this country.
The industry expert expressed the view that regulation that remained only in the capital cannot protect a nation of more than 200 million people, stressing that the programme is how the agency is pushing its regulatory drive to the doorstep of the Nigerian people.
The Director-General said: “Now, what do we expect from you? The NAFDAC boss listed availability and discipline as unnegotiable requirements adding that when they are called upon for an assignment, they must respond promptly and ensure that they see it through.”
She emphasized integrity that is beyond negotiation, noting that in the course of service the young pharmacists will encounter offers and pressures designed to compromise them.
Adeyeye, however, urged them to reject such offers, adding that the moment a regulator can be bought, the public loses its only protection.
She also emphasized confidentiality on the information they handle during inspections and investigations, saying that such information belongs to the agency and to the Nigerian people, not to social media.
The Director-General further clarified: “Fourth, a learning posture: ask questions, read the guidelines, take your training seriously and document your work properly,’ adding that they should have respect for the communities they will serve. You will enter markets, pharmacies and health facilities as ambassadors of NAFDAC and of the pharmacy profession. Conduct yourselves accordingly.”
Adeyeye highlighted what they would gain in the discharge of their assignment such as hands-on regulatory experience that no classroom can offer – pharmacovigilance reporting, laboratory awareness, risk communication and enforcement procedure., adding that their relationship with the agency must be a partnership of mutual benefit.
She said they would be trained and mentored by professionals with decades of experience, and their service would be formally documented, with certification and letters of service that strengthen their standing before any employer, licensing body or postgraduate institution, at home or abroad.
Adeyeye noted that they would build a national network of colleagues across the states and the Federal Capital Territory, a network that will serve their careers long after the programme.
The experience acquired can be cited for career advancement across the wider regulatory and pharmaceutical sector; she said those who might have served in the program with distinction would have demonstrated their capacity in a way that no application letter can.
Similarly, the Director-General added that they would gain the satisfaction of knowing that a child who received genuine medicine, a mother who was spared a falsified product and a family that was protected from harm, were protected in part because the volunteers chose to serve.
Adeyeye, however, urged the Directors and State Coordinators to take ownership of the PRVP volunteers, mentor them, deploy them meaningfully, adding that they should let their service translate into real strengthening of the regulatory reach at state level.
She said: “To our 600 volunteers: you carry today not just a certificate of enrollment, but a pledge to serve with integrity, to represent NAFDAC and your profession with honour, and to place the safety of the Nigerian public above every other consideration.”
The Coordinator of the programme and Director, Narcotics and Controlled Substances (NCS), Dr. Momodu Rametu, saidd that what began only a few weeks ago as a Call for Expression of Interest had become a national pool of six hundred young pharmacists drawn from every state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
She explained that the PRVP initiative was an organised backup system set aside for emergency use, to provide supplemental support or specific services, adding that it increases citizen participation and involvement in regulating, post-marketing, drug demand reduction (drug abuse campaigns).
Also speaking, Coordinator of NAFDAC Training School, Dr Tunde Sigbeku, explained that his role was to ensure impacting of knowledge, which is the bedrock of capacity and efficiency while the volunteers’ physical resourcefulness and strength are the vehicles that drive the mission.
Sigbeku noted that being a volunteer is more of call to service than a title, adding that it’s a call to responsibility and it calls for devotion and determination to serve.
He said: “In the online training school, we will be giving good details of how NAFDAC operates. We are going to be sharing with you the activities of Post Market Surveillance, Pharmacovigilance, Awareness on Prevention of Antimicrobial Resistance through proper use of medicines and veterinary medicines in livestock and fish, Inspection and Enforcement I&E, Narcotic and Controlled Substances, etc.
“We are going to be diving deep into the menace of drug abuse, the impact on the society. You will be a good hand for us in surveillance intelligence gathering and above all in research.’
“This is the first time the agency is having a backup or a reserve of foot soldiers across the county to help us in the battle against fake drug and substandard products”, Sigbeku added.
Photo Caption
L-R: Director, Investigation an Enforcement, National Agency for Food Administration and Control NAFDAC, Mr. Martin Iluyomade, Director General, NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, and Director, Narcotics and Controlled Substances, Dr (Mrs.) Ramatu Momodu at the inauguration of 600 pharmacists into a new initiative – Pharmacists Reserve Volunteer Programme last Friday in Lagos
