Aims and objectives of NAFDAC in Nigeria
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) has always been in the center of any food-related problems in our country. Therefore, it’s one of the most interesting institutions that have been ever created in the country. What are the aims and objectives of NAFDAC in Nigeria and how to deal with them?
What is NAFDAC?
NAFDAC was created in 1993. This federal agency of Nigeria is responsible for controlling and maintaining the sale, distribution, transportation, advertisement, exportation, importation, manufacture and use of packaged water, chemicals, medical devices, cosmetics, drugs, and food.
Meaning of NAFDAC
The organization was aimed to be created to protect Nigerians from illicit products and pass the safety law. Nigeria always had problems with illicit products that kept coming to our country. In 1989 incident, more than 150 children died due to paracetamol syrup containing poison elements.
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The problem of manufacturing fake medical pills was so big, some neighboring countries at a time prohibited the sale of medicine, beverages, and food from Nigeria.
Such a problem couldn’t stay unsolved, and the Federal Government of Nigeria created NAFDAC with the goal to destroy fake medical drugs, food, and beverages. It was also needed to ensure the safety of all medications in the country.
NAFDAC replaced the earlier body created under the Federal Ministry of Health. This body was called the Directorate of Food and Drug Administration and Control. This legislative body was deemed ineffective and had to stop existing.
The first governing council of NAFDAC gathered in 1992 under the NAFDAC chairman Tanimu Saulawa. The main idea of that gathering was to support the legislative process of creating a new body with the name NAFDAC. The Federal Ministry of Health supported the initiative of creating this new institution.
Top 8 objectives of NAFDAC
- The objectives of this organization come from the functions of NAFDAC. According to the requirements of the decree, the Agency takes the following objectives:
- The first object is to regulate and control the importation and exportation of medical drugs in Nigeria. It also includes taking full control over products that Nigerians get from other countries.
- Discover fake products to ensure the standards of the Federal Government regarding these products is the main object of NAFDAC. The standards and specifications can also be provided by NAFDAC itself, but this organization is also responsible for following the instructions of the Federal Ministry of Health.
- The main objective of NAFDAC is to provide the best products on the Nigerian market. Therefore, this organization has a function to undertake an appropriate investigation of the production, manufacturing, raw materials. It’s necessary to provide the best guarantee that everything will work according to the plan.
- NAFDAC also has an object to register all types of food presented in Nigeria for today. It’s also connected with the relevant experience in registering of pharmacology products.
- One of the main objectives of NAFDAC is creating the standards, guidelines, regulations for market players who want to enter the Nigerian market and play according to the rules.
- It’s necessary to for NAFDAC to control the exportation of the products as it may help to deal with illicit manufacturing in Nigeria. Control and issue the quality of the products might be the very reason why NAFDAC was created.
- Establishing and maintaining laboratories is one of the main tasks for NAFDAC. It’s necessary to provide the workable environment for people who are going to test everything connected with foods and drugs in our country.
Achievements of NAFDAC
It has been more than 25 years since the creation of NAFDAC, and it can provide some achievements for these years.
This organization created 36 state offices, so people could easily access it with their complaints. Moreover, these offices are equipped with the modern equipment that makes the job of people much easier.
The organization raised awareness about dangerous products in countries, like Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, China, and India.
Achieved great results in fighting against counterfeit drugs and destroyed more drugs on the sum of more than 2 billion Naira. It’s a fantastic sum of money. It also includes destroying facilities that manufactured illicit products.
It provided guidelines and standards for all regulatory products.
Controversies of NAFDAC
In recent years, the activity of NAFDAC is actively investigated. The agency is claimed to have a lot of scandals connected with the food industry. They were caught in the international air travel racketeering. It didn’t provide a great opportunity for our country in the international arena. Moreover, bribery also became one of the main habits of this organization. Even Heineken and Guinness were spotted in the bribery scandals.
The full meaning of NAFDAC can be concentrated in one phrase – “Protect Nigerians from Illicit products.” Nevertheless, it does not always go this way. the objectives of NAFDAC are clear, it aims to protect Nigerians from fake products that can really harm their health and wellness!
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Source: Legit.ng
