The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, recently raised the alarm over threats to her life and the safety of the agency staff.
She urged the relevant authorities to provide them with better protection.
Speaking at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday, Prof. Adeyeye disclosed that NAFDAC officials face constant danger while cracking down on fake and substandard pharmaceutical products across the country.
She also renewed her call for the death penalty against those dealing in counterfeit drugs, describing them as merchants of death who put millions of lives at risk.
Prof. Adeyeye revealed that the heightened enforcement by NAFDAC recently led to the seizure of 87 truckloads of substandard and expired medical products, including antiretroviral drugs, condoms, and other compromised medical supplies.
The crackdown, which took place at major drug markets in Lagos, Onitsha, and Aba, resulted in the confiscation of fake drugs valued at over N1 trillion—the largest seizure in the agency’s history.
Despite these efforts, Prof. Adeyeye lamented the personal toll of the job, stating that she now requires round-the-clock police protection.
We urge President Bola Tinubu to strengthen security around Prof. Adeyeye, following these alleged threats to her life.
Prof. Adeyeye’s distress call regarding threats to her life and those of her staff must not be ignored.
We recognize her critical role in Nigeria’s fight against counterfeit drugs, toxic consumables, and criminal syndicates profiting from human suffering.
Any attempt on her life is an assault on public health, national security, and the fabric of a lawful society.
Nigeria cannot afford to abandon those who risk everything for the greater good of all of us.
The failure to act decisively would embolden criminals and undermine national institutions.
Nigeria cannot turn a blind eye while purveyors of deadly drugs roam free. This is a battle for national survival, and the stakes could not be higher.
We call on President Tinubu to urgently upgrade security around Prof. Adeyeye, her family, and her staff, because her sacrifice in returning to serve the nation must be recognized and protected.
We are also of the opinion that the adoption of blockchain technology will address the problem of counterfeit medicines threatening the country’s pharmaceutical sector.
Blockchain would help to serialise pharmaceutical products and assign security features that would be verifiable by scanning the product.
Pharmaceutical products could be protected by using encrypted non-fungible token tags integrated into the products to create unique identities.
Encrypting non-fungible token tags means protecting information using a special code. This makes sure that only authorised people with the right code can see details like who owns it or any attached data.
On the blockchain there are entities known as smart contracts, which are like unchangeable lines of code.
Each product receives a unique identification tag that’s affixed to the product’s packaging within a smart contract, which makes it impossible to manipulate.
It offers a straightforward way for customers to verify the authenticity of products by scanning them with their smartphones. This technology has the potential to significantly reduce the risk of counterfeit drugs in the pharmaceutical industry.
Fake drugs not only endanger lives but also undermine the integrity of the entire industry.
Unfortunately, legitimate pharmaceutical companies suffer reputational damage, and the nation’s healthcare system grapples with diminished trust because of fake drugs.
On Friday, NAFDAC blacklisted AVEO Pharmaceuticals Pvt Limited for its involvement in the production and illegal exportation of tapentadol to countries in West Africa, including Nigeria.
The pharmaceutical firm was also implicated in the manufacture and illegal exportation of tramadol doses above 100mg, particularly 250mg.
Consequently, NAFDAC also banned the importation and sale of tapentadol and carisoprodol combination- tafrodol or Royal 225 in the country.
Prof. Adeyeye, who announced this, on Friday, said that Aveo Pharmaceuticals, based in the outskirts of Mumbai, India, managed by Vinod Sharma, is involved in the production, sale and exportation of a range of addictive pills containing a harmful mix of tapentadol, a powerful opioid, and carisoprodol, a banned muscle relaxant with addictive properties that can cause overdose or death.
She noted that the sanction followed an investigation, which revealed that packets of these brands, branded with the Aveo logo, have been on sale on the streets of Nigeria, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire.
She observed that Aveo Pharmaceuticals is also implicated in the manufacture of high dose tramadol for export to countries in West Africa, including Nigeria, adding that the mix comes as Tafrodol or Royal 225.
According to her, an undercover operative sent inside the factory, posing as an African businessman looking to supply opioids to Nigeria with a hidden camera recorded his interaction with Vinod Sharma, who confessed to exportation of large consignments of this combination of drugs across West Africa and their distribution for abuse as street drugs and opioids.
She explained that this combination of drugs is not licensed for use anywhere in the world, nor is it registered by NAFDAC as it can cause breathing difficulties and seizures.
An overdose, she said, can kill; adding that despite the risks, these opioids are popular as street drugs in many West African countries because they are so cheap and widely available.
She said that the enforcement will continue to happen to make Nigeria an uncomfortable place to engage in such unethical and unapproved distribution of fake, substandard and falsified pharmaceutical products.
Fake drugs remain one of the biggest problems in the pharmaceutical sector.
According to the United Nations, substandard drugs lead to 500,000 deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa.
Of those, 267,000 were linked to fake antimalarial drugs, and 169,271 deaths resulted from substandard antibiotics for severe pneumonia.
