The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has restated its determination to attain the World Health Organization (WHO) Maturity Level Four certification, as a regulatory step towards making pharmaceutical products manufactured in Nigeria competitive in the rapidly transforming the global market.
The agency’s Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who made this remark last Friday during the official commissioning of the NAFDAC’s State Office in Ilorin, Kwara State, also spoke on plans to open seven new offices nationwide to enhance its operations.
She recalled that in the first quarter of this year, the agency attained Maturity Level 3 in the WHO global bench-marking tools, adding that this has placed NAFDAC among the globally recognized pharmaceuticals industry’s regulatory agencies.
According to her, the feat would not have been attained without a committed and dedicated workforce and a very supportive governing council.
Adeyeye stressed that the agency would be working towards the attainment of Maturity Level 4 and the sustenance of its developmental strides, harping on the importance of sound infrastructure, equipment, a conducive work environment for staff, and accessible office locations for the stakeholders in the drive.
She enthused that Quality Management System (QMS) in NAFDAC had transitioned over the years to a robust platform for institutionalizing resourceful leadership, evidence-based decision-making, and engagement of a trained and competent workforce for effective customer-focused delivery of regulatory services.
The NAFDAC boss said: ‘’With the support of the Presidency, National Assembly, and the NAFDAC Governing Council, we commenced the building of State offices across the country out of which seven have been completed and we are now in the process of Commissioning them beginning with the Kwara State Office which we are witnessing today to the glory of God’’.
A statement signed by the Resident Media Consultant to NAFDAC, Sayo Akintola on Sunday, indicated that that Osun State office of the agency was commissioned on Saturday in Oshogbo, the state capital, even as plans were being intensified to commission similar office in Ogun, Ebonyi, Sokoto, Yobe and Kebbi States.
In addition, the agency’s spokesman stated that construction works on modern offices of the agency had also commenced in Kano, Edo and Delta States.
