The world has become a knowledge-based system where critical thinking and innovations now dominate and drive governance. Economic growth, as a matter of fact, is hinged on the hub of ideas. According to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), “knowledge is now recognized as the driver of productivity and economic growth, leading to a new focus on the role of information, technology and learning in economic performance.” Knowledge-based economy stems from the fuller recognition of the place of information and technology in today’s world.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), in this regard, is excelling and setting a new pace with cutting-edge technologies and innovations. Its global outlook and rating over the years arguably distinguish it.
NAFDAC is among a very few government agencies that have demonstrated consistency in innovations and innovativeness; and has been diligently building on its reputation in line with emerging global trends and developments. Its ennobling influence on the people singles it out as a pro-active agency that understands the dynamics of human needs. It inspires hope in Nigerians and it is a constant reminder that Nigeria, as a nation, can no longer afford to sit back without a paradigm shift toward a knowledge-based economy as a national driving force. A system that is working at NAFDAC for good corporate governance will definitely work, overall, if fully embraced.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, has in the last six years built on the agency’s foundation by strengthening its technology and information base to achieve unprecedented results. He is a man who substantially understands the essence of a knowledge-based system as a global enterprise, and which must be keyed into to meet the needs of a growing population.
The world is embracing innovations, and NAFDAC, by a dint of hard work, professionalism and good leadership, is not lagging behind in this global drive. It has continued to buy into latest inventions in global administration and control of food and drugs to safeguard the public health of Nigerians.
The agency is a continuous success story. It has been lucky to be manned by dedicated and patriotic Nigerians who were and are committed to its founding vision. In reckoning with the history of the agency, it is equally gratifying that Orhii has regularly acknowledged the effort of his predecessor.
It is even more rewarding that Orhii has continued to grapple with emerging national challenges in the area of food and drugs control in Nigeria, working round the clock, protecting lives, safeguarding the health and securing future of the nation. Under his watch, NAFDAC is spearheading global efforts in the use of technologies to fight counterfeiting. The agency has introduced and deployed modern technologies such as TRUSCAN, Mobile Authentication Service (MAS) and Radio Frequency Identification in the fight against counterfeit drugs in the country.
NAFDAC is the first medicine regulatory authority to deploy and use Truscan – a hand-held device used for on -the -spot detection of counterfeit medicines, and has achieved resounding success within and at the nation’s borders, detecting counterfeit medicines on the spot. The MAS technology has provided a significant opportunity for more than 80 million Nigerian cell phone users to be able to detect counterfeit medicines. These technologies have greatly helped the agency to effectively fight fake drugs in the country.
There is an exciting feeling about the work of NAFDAC. That an ordinary Nigeria can, through his or her mobile phone, confirm the originality of a drug is quite inspiring. This is what NAFDAC has brought to the table that makes it a unique agency among others. Nigeria should be more innovative as a nation across all levels of government and understand the place of empiricism in governance.
In the space of six years, between 2009 and 2015, NAFDAC, according to available records, has seized and destroyed fake drugs and other regulated products worth over N500 billion. This definitely cannot be fully appreciated in terms of averted disaster, which these drugs could have done to humanity.
This exploit is remarkable and the world should obviously celebrate it. Orhii is doing a good job at NAFDAC and the agency is really working. The facts speak! Fighting the battle against fake drugs is like fighting a war against corruption: it fights back and sometimes in a fiercer manner that unsettles. Obviously, it has not been rosy for Orhii and his team. He is occupying a seat that gives no moment of respite and little or no chance to make a mistake. Every now and then, the bad guys in the evil business of counterfeit drugs and foods try to beat him to it, compromise his staff members, undermine his person and, sometimes, daringly go for the lives of the officials (including their family members). The risk involved is beyond what the best insurance cover could assuage, but one which a sense of national pride and patriotism has been sustaining.
The recent onslaught against Orhii both in the media and in a series of petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleging corrupt deals are part of the challenges that come with fighting entrenched interests who are in the business of making huge money at the expense of innocent lives. Imagine the feathers that have been ruffled and strongholds that have been broken with the destruction of over N500 billion worth of fake drugs and other regulated products in the space of six years! Certainly, this will not be taken lightly by the affected persons and companies without a fight. They could go to any length to undermine the system and the personnel. Nigerians will readily remember several attempts made on the life of the late Dora Akunyili when she equally made “the obviously bad business” more difficult for the counterfeit drug barons.
Indeed, Orhii and his team members need prayers to successfully prosecute the war against counterfeit drugs. I would like to admonish here that institutions of the State saddled with the prosecution of crimes should be wary of petitions against agencies like NAFDAC. They should endeavour to determine the motives behind such petitions before publicizing them because, most times, petitions are written to distract, demonise and demoralise faithful and patriotic officials.
Rounding off, I propose that other government agencies and, indeed, the nation at large should take a cue from NAFDAC by prioritising knowledge, technology and innovations to drive governance in the spirit of real change. Indeed, as our nation continues to contend with “oil doom”, it is only wise to commence a gradual shift towards the knowledge-based economic system to enable diversification of revenue sources. NAFDAC is one such source; the agency is working; Nigerians are not only feeling it, they are also seeing the results and talking about them. Everything that needs to be done must be done to enable the agency realise its full potentiality as a veritable revenue earner for the nation.
- Mr Ojeifo, Editor-in-Chief of The Congresswatch, sent in this piece from Abuja.[myad]