•NAFDAC should rise up to the new threat against the wellbeing of Nigerians

No fewer than 240 shops were last week shut in Aba, Abia State over fake and counterfeit drugs, according to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). But that is like scratching the surface in tackling a menace that is not only national but has also reached epidemic proportions. “Some of the activities of the nefarious counterfeiters included the production of all kinds of wines from a wide variety of brands,” said NAFDAC Director General, Moji Adeyeye, after the raid that was carried out within the first two weeks of December 2023. “They also counterfeited non-alcoholic beverages like Eva wine and Coca-Cola products, among others.”

While NAFDAC may be more concerned about adulterated food products, the greater challenge is in drug administration. Indeed, no critical sector has perhaps been impacted by the astronomical hike in the prices of goods and services in the country like the health sector. The drug trade is indeed lucrative and, like many things Nigerian, has become an all-comers affair. Many of the drug stores across the country are kept in business by large scale importation from Europe, India and China. And in a nation where prescription drugs can be purchased from over the counter (OTC) store, the current influx of fake and adulterated drugs comes as no surprise. What seems to have heightened the challenge is the closure of some multinational drug companies in Nigeria due to the operating environment.

A combination of insecurity, multiple taxation, epileptic power supply (when available), poor infrastructure, port congestion, foreign exchange scarcity, etc., have forced many of the multinational drug manufacturing companies operating in the country to close shop in recent months. Notably, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc, the country’s second-biggest drug producer, halted its operations in August this year. Last month, Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical multinational, also exited from Nigerian operations. The implications have been severe.

From common illnesses like malaria fever and headache to chronic ones like high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney, and liver diseases, most medications are currently being priced beyond the reach of the average Nigerian. That has encouraged the influx of adulterated and counterfeit drugs that contain too much or too little of active ingredients. Although NAFDAC once alerted Nigerians that a falsified Augmentin 625mg tablets, an antibiotic medication used for the treatment of different types of bacterial infections, was in circulation, there is hardly any drug in the country today that has not been ‘duplicated’. We call on NAFDAC and other stakeholders to rise to this new threat against the wellbeing of Nigerians.

Since the current direction of Nigeria’s external trade is mostly with countries where faking and adulteration have become established sub economies, there is need for a diplomatic reorientation that involves government at the highest level. The near absence of controls in those countries and at our end increases the challenge. Corruption at our ports of entry and in the regulatory agencies is a whole area of concern that has remained with us for so long. Rogue officials of NAFDAC, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigeria Customs Service, etc., have developed a culture of complicity on nefarious trafficking in substandard products.

In drugs and medicaments, the general poverty among the populace makes cheap adulterated drugs more affordable. Meanwhile, unscrupulous traders will import and sell what the market effectively demands. Unfortunately, the absence of a national policy on Medicare and Medicaid has driven most Nigerians into the underground medicine market of fake products. Many people are into the business of illegal sales and importation of counterfeit drugs evidently because sanctions are not being applied when the law is breached.

What the foregoing suggests is an urgent need to set up a water-tight regulatory framework in the drug administration environment. There has to be a consistent effort to alert the people to the risks of fake drugs and reinforce the need for them to patronise the right health institutions.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, (FCCPC), the government agency saddled with protecting the public from unreasonable risks and injury should also be alive to its responsibilities. Beyond that, we hope that the Bola Tinubu administration has a comprehensive plan to revamp the health sector in the country.

We call on NAFDAC and other stakeholders to rise to this new threat against the wellbeing of Nigerians.

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