The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has revealed that over 250 seized containers suspected to contain tramadol will soon be released for destruction upon completion of examination. Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Christianah Adeyeye, disclosed this in Lagos during a pharma-stakeholders’ engagement with her on the activities of the agency, aimed at fostering effective collaboration between the agency and stakeholders in the pharmaceutical sector.

 

Adeyeye also revealed that in collaboration with the Nigerian Customs Service, an alarming street value of tramadol worth over N1, 702, 692, 250, 000 was destroyed by the agency in 2019 alone. She said: “Besides the huge quantity destroyed already, over 250 containers suspected to contain tramadol or unregistered substandard and falsified medicines are undergoing examination before they are released for destruction. 

 

“Tramadol with an estimated street value of N1, 702, 692, 250, 000 have also been destroyed. Tramadol destroys lives. When we got information about 21 containers of tramadol that were coming to Nigeria, I was almost crying wondering why they want to destroy our people. “Tramadol alters the state of mind; it is killing our young people. 

 

That is why we are not taking them lightly; it destroys families, it destroys the work force. Well, I am glad that our enforcement and investigation inspectorate is on top of this.” Giving insight into major achievements of the agency in 2019, the NAFDAC boss said the agency had rolled out plans to achieve its N7 billion worth of capital projects to strengthen the operations and activities of the agency, adding that the agency plans to achieve 60 per cent local production of pharmaceutical products in the next five years. 

 

Adeyeye said the drug evaluation and research directorate of the agency through the support of its development partners carried out assessment of 165 local pharmaceutical manufacturers in Nigeria in an effort to ensure good manufacturing practices and to strengthen the local pharmaceutical industry.

 

She added that NAFDAC has reduced the number of registered imported products to encourage local manufacturing and innovation.

 

Speaking on ways of improving local pharmaceutical sector, Publicity Secretary of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), Mr. Oluwatosin Jolayemi, noted that achieving 60 per cent of local drug manufacturing in the country in the next five years is possible owing to available capacity. “Because a lot of pharmaceutical companies have improved their capacity, we can achieve the 60 per cent target in the next five years. Capacity is being improved on a daily basis; a lot of factories are being expanded. 

 

A lot of machinery is being bought, but not all installed capacity is being utilized,” he said. According to him, right now, many companies are running less than 40 per cent capacity in the country.