The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
yesterday commenced a three-day sensitisation workshop on anti-corruption,
gender and SERVICOM for its staff in Enugu in accordance with the federal
government directive that all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)
should establish anti-corruption unit.
Declaring the workshop open, the Director General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul
Orhii, said the workshop which the agency organised in alliance with
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission
(ICPC), is to educate and strengthen the agency’s anti-corruption war
against counterfeiting and unwholesome practices in the country.
Orhii, who was represented by the NAFDAC deputy director special duties,
Dr. Jimo Ibrahim, said the NAFDAC in its mandate to safeguard the nation
from counterfeit drug and unwholesome products, has seized and destroyed
N25 billion worth of products in the last five years of his
administration.
NAFDAC DG noted that this feat was achieved through various strategies
which included deployment of cutting edge technology, which he said had
reduced the incidences of fake drug from 60 percent in 2011 to 3.6 per
cent in 2015 especially as it regard anti-malaria drugs.
According to him, “people can confidently go to any pharmaceutical shop
and buy genuine drugs using mobile authentication service which is now
included in all anti-malaria and antibiotic drugs.”
Orhii noted that anticorruption must be fought beginning from the head
down to cleaners.
“In the last five and half years NAFDAC has destroyed 25billion worth of
counterfeit product. We have reduced the fake anti-malaria drugs from 60
per cent in 2008 to 3.5 per cent in 2015 through vigorous anticorruption
crusade,” he said.
Addressing the participants at the workshop being held at Villa Toscana
Hotel Enugu, the Deputy Director, Head Corruption, Monitoring and
Evaluation Department (CMED) of the ICPC, Akeem Lawal, disclosed that ICPC
has established over 400 anti-corruption units in MDAs to fight corruption
because the war against corruption must start from within.