NAFDAC Harps on Transparency, Corrupt-free Operations

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja 

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said that its mandate of safeguarding the health of the nation cannot be accomplished without a corruption-free regulatory framework. 

The Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, made the assertion at a three-day training programme on ‘Anti-corruption, Leadership in the 21st Century, and Ethical Value in the Workplace’ for all the directors of the Agency.

A statement by the Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, quoted Adeyeye as having said that without transparency, the activities of the agency would be compromised, which could put the health of the populace at risk, adding that: “I don’t separate trade from regulation; if you have a good product, people will rush and buy irrespective of wherever you are; and if you don’t have a good product, people will not buy it. That’s what our business is all about in NAFDAC.”

According to the NAFDAC boss, “Whether its food, drug, medical devices or cosmetics, if we don’t do our job well, we will have bad products, we will allow bad products to come into the country and put the lives of our people in danger.”

Describing the training as apt, Adeyeye said that the goal of the training was to address issues of leadership and governance, adding that the training would place a strong emphasis on current issues of anti-corruption and ethical values in the workplace, as well as organizational leadership.

She said: “Undoubtedly, one of the most important and essential duties of management is to prevent, detect and respond to fraud.”

She said the training would serve as a forum for discussion, sharing of experience, providing guidance and developing strategy for good leadership. 

The DG noted that the training aligns with the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Benchmarking Tool (ISO 19004) for which the agency was audited, and which culminated in her attainment of the WHO ML3 status, and recognition, as a stable and well-functioning regulatory agency.