Background

Prior to 2004, Nigeria was a haven for substandard and counterfeit drugs. Fake drugs were estimated to be at least 41% of all the drugs in the market. In 2003, the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research reported that 80% of drugs on sale in Lagos State were fake. Counterfeit drugs were freely sold in commercial buses. There was even a specialist fake drugs market in Anambra State. The situation was bad to the extent that West African countries banned the importation of all pharmaceutical drugs from Nigeria.

Past Reform and Achievements

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) did not have a single functional laboratory, their offices were dilapidated, and their personnel were completely unmotivated prior to the reforms. After a whole-system reviews of all its operations were conducted, these facilities were developed and equipped. An ultra-modern regional laboratory complex was launched in Agulu, Anambra State in 2010. In 2013, Nigeria obtained the ISO 17025 accreditation for two Lagos-based NAFDAC’s laboratories.

New operational modes, which include controlling clinical trials, targeting the sources of counterfeit drugs, strengthening surveillance at all ports of entry, destroying fake drugs already in circulation, and quality assurance of locally manufactured products, were established. The agency was restructured and reorganised; its staff reoriented and motivated with clear incentives and sanctions, and its recruitment process made transparent. It engaged relevant stakeholders such as the media, the courts, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria and the Nigeria Customs Service; and began to change the foods and drugs industry by naming and shaming offenders, blacklisting offending companies, destroying fake and substandard drugs, and prosecuting their producers.

By 2014, the percentage of counterfeit and substandard drugs in Nigeria had fallen below 10% from the about 41% in 2004. NAFDAC was rated by NOI Polls as the most effective government agency in Nigeria for three years in a row, 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Challenges and Next Steps

Jingles should be made to encourage those Nigerians who abuse drugs in the forms of cough syrups and alcoholic herbal concoctions stop the behaviour. Unannounced raids on pharmacy stores and markets that seem to have slowed in the last several months should be reinvigorated. NAFDAC’s collaboration with security agencies should continue to be strengthened.