NAFDAC Mobilises 600 Pharmacists in Nationwide Push Against Fake Drugs
The new regulatory volunteer force will extend medicine surveillance into markets, pharmacies and healthcare centres across all 36 states and the FCT.
By Abdullahi Yusuf
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has unveiled 600 pharmacists to strengthen medicine regulation and public health protection across Nigeria.
The pharmacists, drawn from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, will form a national reserve of trained personnel that can be mobilised for product recalls, suspected circulation of falsified medicines, public health emergencies and other urgent regulatory operations.
NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed the development during the inauguration of the Pharmacists Regulatory Volunteers Programme (PRVP), according to a statement issued in Abuja by the agency’s Resident Media Consultant, Olusayo Akintola.
Adeyeye said the volunteers were selected through a process based on merit, availability and geographical representation, giving NAFDAC additional regulatory capacity across the country.
She said the programme was designed to extend regulatory activities beyond laboratories and ports of entry to markets, community pharmacies, patent medicine stores and primary healthcare centres.
“Once a regulator is bought, the public loses its protection,” Adeyeye said, urging the pharmacists to maintain integrity in carrying out their responsibilities.
The volunteers will receive training in medicines regulation, pharmacovigilance, compliance monitoring, quality assurance, data collection, risk communication and public sensitisation against drug abuse, among other areas.
Adeyeye said the programme would create a standing pool of trained and vetted pharmacists in every state who could work alongside NAFDAC state offices to strengthen surveillance and regulatory activities.
“Regulation that lives only in the capital cannot protect a nation of more than 200 million people,” she said. “This programme is aimed at taking regulation to the doorstep of the Nigerian people.”
The Director-General said the volunteers would also receive hands-on experience in post-market surveillance, laboratory awareness, enforcement procedures and other regulatory operations.
She said their participation would be formally documented through certification and letters of service, while the experience would help strengthen their professional development and credentials.
Adeyeye also urged the volunteers to protect confidential information obtained during inspections and investigations, stressing that regulatory information should not be disclosed to unauthorised individuals or shared on social media.
She called on NAFDAC directors and state coordinators to mentor the volunteers and deploy them meaningfully in support of public health protection.
“To our 600 volunteers: you carry today not just a certificate of enrolment, but a pledge to serve with integrity, to represent NAFDAC and your profession with honour,” she said.
The Programme Coordinator and Director of Narcotics and Controlled Substances, Dr Momodu Rametu, said the initiative began with an expression of interest before developing into a national pool of 600 pharmacists.
He described the programme as an organised backup system for emergency response and additional regulatory support, particularly in post-marketing surveillance, drug-demand reduction campaigns and community-level efforts against unsafe pharmaceutical practices.
The Coordinator of the NAFDAC Training School, Dr Tunde Sigbeku, said the volunteers would receive training on NAFDAC operations, post-market surveillance, pharmacovigilance, antimicrobial resistance, inspection and enforcement, and narcotics and controlled substances.
He said the programme would also support surveillance, intelligence gathering and research aimed at protecting Nigerians from unsafe medicines and other harmful products.
Sigbeku described the initiative as the first time NAFDAC would have a national reserve of personnel dedicated to supporting its efforts against fake, substandard, falsified and dangerous pharmaceutical products across Nigeria.
SPONSORED
SPONSORED
SONSORED
