I was on the computer in my sitting room on December 31, 2013, trying to establish contact through the internet with the Redemption Camp to watch and listen to the crossover night message by my pastor, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, when the news item about the reappointment of Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr Paul Botwev Orhii, was announced on the network news of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
My instant reaction was a shout of “Thank You Mr. President!” The announcement of Orhii’s reappointment was sudden, coming at the time it did: the last day of the year! In fact, it was a wonderful way of rounding off an eventful year of innovative campaign against counterfeit medicine and stepping into the New Year. I had thought that, given the fact that his first tenure would end on January 13, 2014, his reappointment or otherwise should have come about January 13. But President Goodluck Jonathan thought differently.
By the announcement two weeks to the expiry of his first tenure, the president succeeded in putting paid to the shenanigans that had been created around the tenure renewal and taking the wind off the sails of forces opposed to Orhii’s reappointment. One of the undisguised forces was the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), which had sponsored reports and articles in the media attacking the eligibility of Orhii, a medical doctor, pharmacologists and lawyer, for the position of NAFDAC director generalship. The falsehood of the jejune argument by the pharmacists was self evident in the very provision of Section 9(2) of the NAFDAC Establishment Act upon which they hinged it.
The crux of the provision is that anybody for appointment as DG of NAFDAC must possess a good knowledge of pharmacy, foods and drugs. The pharmacists had conveniently downplayed the aspect that pertained to foods and drugs, the fortes of food technologists and pharmacologists/medical doctors respectively, in their adversarial campaigns to truncate Orhii’s tenure. Having failed to coerce the president through sheer fallacy and mendacity into dumping Orhii, I sincerely do not want to know how the pharmacists, whose desire has been to lay exclusive claim to the position, would be feeling as of now.
I am once more pleased to say: “Thank you Mr. President for reappointing Orhii,” the apolitical technocrat, who brought his wealth of experience and professional exposure in Russia and United States of America coupled with intense passion, into the fight against counterfeit medicine in Nigeria through his novel cutting-edge technologies: TRUSCAN, Mobile Authentication Service (SMS), Black Eye, Mini-Lab, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) System.
With the transformational leadership and evidential achievements by the agency since Orhii stepped in the saddle in 2009, it is quite easy to conclude that Jonathan must have been swayed by the scorecard of the leadership of the Agency. And, besides, this is the burgeoning tradition of recognition of performance by the Jonathan administration. Orhii did not have to lobby to be retained or reappointed; if he lobbied, he must have done so with his impressive performance. This is the disposition that the president expects to see in all his team members in government to be able to effectively drive his Transformation Agenda.
To be sure, NAFDAC is a microcosmic manifestation of the bigger Transformation picture evident in the political economy under Jonathan’s watch. The Agency has succeeded, to a large extent, in curbing the influx of substandard regulated products into the country, thus living up to the billing of its motto of safeguarding the health of the nation. A number of actions, activities and programmes have gone into the mix that has produced a revitalized NAFDAC that is geared towards achieving zero tolerance to fake drugs.
On food regulatory activities, the Agency, among other things, created a Food and Applied Nutrition Directorate in line with President Jonathan’s agriculture transformation and food security programme; collaborated with Federal Ministry of Agriculture in promoting production and export of value-added agricultural products like cocoa, cashew and cassava; collaborated with the Ministry in achieving the 20 percent cassava flour content for baking of bread and confectionaries as a deliberate policy of Jonathan’s transformation agenda and diversification of the Nigeria economy from over-dependence on oil export.
For regulation of packed/table water, NAFDAC registered over 18,010 water products from 2009 to 2013; and provided guidance in the form of training, laboratory analysis, advisory inspections and consultative meetings with this sector; while in 2012, the Agency carried out a re-certification of all registered packaged water in the country and trained all the producers.
In the sphere of safe and responsible use of agrochemicals, guidelines and standard operating procedure for chemical regulation and control, according to the Agency, had been reviewed to address emerging trends while risk assessment and field trials of fertilizer have been introduced for effective control and management of agrochemicals.
Under Orhii’s watch, the Agency, among others, completed and got the president to commission the multi-million naira ultra modern state-of-the-art Regional Laboratory Complex in Agulu, Anambra State in 2010; completed the Kaduna Area Laboratory which was razed down by fore in 2004, preparatory to commissioning; acquired new multi-million naira building for Lagos administrative office; structurally face-lifted, refurbished and upgraded its (Agency’s) headquarters in Abuja and laboratories in Yaba, Oshodi and Maiduguri.
Some of the innovations included an established web presence where activities and information on the Agency are available on the website; a corporate portal which allows for in-house sharing of information; a Laboratory Information Management System to support quality laboratory procedure and data processes. The innovations also included an E-Clearance Portal which allows for online electronic clearance of goods at the ports.
There was also the NAFDAC Automated Product Administration and Monitoring Solution (NAPAMS), a web portal that is internet enabled, providing an electronic platform for the management of the registration process/E-Registration and a database to capture information on all NAFDAC-regulated products. This, as argued, would also make the process more transparent towards the attainment of the 90 days timeline.
In fact, all these landmarks and innovations enabled the Agency to be rated as one of the top 18 Medicines Regulatory Agencies in the world. And, for Orhii, who is driving the innovative leadership in the use of cutting-edge technologies to fight counterfeiting, local and international honours have come into his kitty, including Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) conferred on him on President Jonathan; National Productivity Order Merit (NPOM) award by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity; US Special Congressional Award in Washington DC, USA; 2010 Pharma VOICE 100 Most Inspiring People in the Life Sciences Industry by Pharma VOICE, New Jersey, USA; and Tribune Newspaper Exemplary Leadership Award, among others.
The icing on the cake of these recognitions is his reappointment. I expect that Orhii and his team members will work harder to consolidate on the achievements so far recorded and also do more in the area of new innovations for the advancement of the war against fake medicines.
Mr Ojeifo is based in Abuja and sent this piece via ojwonderngr@yahoo.com
