NAFDAC pledges to attain WHO Maturity Level 4 status

The National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration control (NAFDAC) has pledged to renew its efforts to achieve the World Health Organization (WHO) Maturity Level four (ML4) status. This is contained in a statement by the Director-General of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, issued to newsmen by the agency’s media consultant, Mr Olusayo Akintola, on Sunday in Abuja. The statement also disclosed that the  Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group and its Manufacturers Association of Nigeria counterpart (PMG-MAN)  will collaborate with NAFDAC to achieve some of its set targets. The Memoranda for the collaboration was reached at an hybrid stakeholders meeting organized by the NAFDAC in Lagos on pharmaceutical traceability.

The D-G stated that the collaboration would also launch Nigeria into the league of vaccines and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) producers in the world. Adeyeye stated that the collaboration was to assist NAFDAC in its renewed effort to achieve the World Health Organization (WHO) Maturity Level four (ML4) status.

The NAFDAC boss said that the nation had to maintain the ML 3 attained in 2022 by continuing to adhere strictly to the best global practices in regulatory responsibility. “’We are going to strengthen our operations and be more effective. We are going to get ML4. We are going to get marked for World Listed Authority apart from ML4″.  Adeyeye said that the agency met all the requirements of ML3, and that while doing that it got some requirements which also satisfied under ML4, but not all. She  further said that with the present situation, the journey of meeting up with ML4 would not be difficult as it was for the last four plus years and above. Emphasizing on the importance of WHO ML4 which according to her, will further boost the trade aspect of the Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry and will not diminish its health implications for the Nigerian populace. She commented that Nigerians would be more confident of the medicines being taken since the process embarked upon by the agency was aimed at mitigating against substandard and falsified medicines to a very low prevalence. She said it took Nigeria four years to attain the prestigious status, and that achieving ML4 would really help the country’s manufacturing industry to grow and that it would also help importers migrating from importation of pharmaceutical products to local manufacturing, and that it would also help in terms of trade.

Adeyeye disclosed that Nigeria was already preparing for vaccine and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) manufacturing with huge Federal Government’s support to upgrade NAFDAC vaccine laboratory. She stated that the agency’s vaccine laboratory was about 70 per cent completed and would be ready for use in the next six months. According to her, NAFDAC is the only agency in sub-Sahara Africa that has its own in-house biologics and vaccine laboratory. “We have a lot going for us as a country. We just have to get our acts together and start producing. I know it is a lot of work.’’

She, however, said that government was also supporting manufacturing financially with the details being worked out. She said that government had also supported by giving intervention funds to some companies to rejig their infrastructure.

The statement also reported the Chairman of PMG-MAN, Dr Fidelis Ayebae, saying the association would do everything humanly possible to support NAFDAC to attain ML4. He commended NAFDAC on its achievement of WHO Maturity Level three (ML3), adding that the association would support the agency to continue to excel. Ayebae said that the association would support NAFDAC to enable it to create an enabling environment for pharmaceutical industry to thrive. “Let me assure you that if there is one body in foods and drugs and other related chemicals which are under your purview, that wants you to succeed more than anything else, it is PMG-MAN.”

He vowed to galvanize other chief executive officers of pharmaceutical companies in the country to have a collaborative relationship with the regulatory body. He added that such collaboration would help to make NAFDAC oversight responsibility over the industry most effectively and help the industry to grow. Ayebae added that the association would form a technical committee with NAFDAC that would work with the agency to ensure that the industry attained greater heights.