Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, has solicited the support all the 36 state governors in Nigeria to safeguard the future of Nigerians against fake drugs, drug abuse and processed foods that have been cutting short life expectancy of the citizenry.
She made the call when she paid a courtesy call on Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, in his office at Agodi, Ibadan on Monday. She was accompanied by top officials of the agency in the South West Zone that comprised Mr. Bolakale Ayinde, Acting Director, South West Zone Directorate; Mr. Francis Oluwole, Coordinator of NAFDAC in Oyo State,and his counterparts from Osun, Ogun, Ondo and Ekiti States.
Adeyeye used the occasion to request for a befitting place for the agency’s office and operation vehicles from Oyo State Government. But Governor Makinde said the state would look into the request and get back to the agency, adding that it’s imperative for the state to support NAFDAC in order to ensure protection of lives of people against illicit drugs and dangerous processed foods.
The governor said now that the standard guage rail line by the Federal Government has reached Ibadan, the dry port at Olorisa-Oko in Akinyele Local Government should be completed within two years, and it is expected to open up Ibadan for commerce. He noted that people from the South East, South South, the North and majority of South West states would not have reasons to go to Apapa in Lagos to clear their cargoes, but Ibadan for the clearance.
The NAFDAC DG, however, listed tramadol and codeine as some of the drugs that have been destroying the future of Nigerian youth and have also been found to imbue terrorism because tramadol has been found in the blood of children suicide bombers, recruited by Boko Haram insurgents in the country.
She raised the alarm that many Nigerians don’t pay attention to what they eat on many occasions, adding that the country is blessed with a lot of vegetables and fruits that they can eat and maintain sound health. She lamented that the processed foods are the ones killing Nigeria because of most of the processed foods contain excess sugar and salt, and excess monosodium glutamate.
Adeyeye stated that tramadol and codeine usually find their ways to Nigeria through the ports and for seven years – 2011 to 2018, NAFDAC was removed from the ports, which probably made the controlled drugs to find their way to the country in copious quantities. She also made a case for the agency to be included in the National Security Council because the issues of food and drug security are very important.
Her words: “We have had a lot of problems that predated me. One of the problems we had was that NAFDAC was removed from the ports for seven years, 2011 to May 16, 2018. The damage that was done during the seven years, we are still mopping it as we speak.
“I never knew that I would come home from abroad and start battling tramadol and codeine that have destroyed so many young lives. Nigerian can never be greater than its youth. If we don’t think of our youth and control access to drugs, we may not have tomorrow because drugs change the brain, and will not allow it to function well. If the brain does not function well, the home will not function well, and if the home does not function well, the workplace will not function well.
“For the first five months, I was running after going back to the port. I approached the National Security Adviser to help us because we found out that our children that Boko Haram people tied IED – bomb, around their necks to go and bomb themselves, their blood contained tramadol. So, it is not only about destroying the future, it is terrorism. It is destabilisation of communities. But we were able to go back to the ports.
“However, NAFDAC is bigger than the ports. We are in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. This is why we need the help of our governors because we cannot do this alone.”
Adeyeye said the agency has the National Taskforce, which is a Directorate, and state taskforce that should be resident in each state of the federation, saying: “Without the help of the different states, we cannot control illicit drugs, substandard falsified medicines, herbal medicines that herbalists are saying can cure 200 diseases, and they are killing our people. That is one of the reasons we need the help of our governors to join hands with the Federal Taskforce, to tackle the menace of falsified medicines, illicit drugs, including herbal medicines.”