National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, yesterday disclosed that alarming street value of tramadol worth over N1, 702, 692,250,000.00 was destroyed by the agency in 2019 even as it announced that NAFDAC would begin to test for imported Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, APIs before they are used to manufacture drugs in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the Agency has rolled out plans to achieve 60 percent local production of pharmaceutical products by 2024.

Making these revelations and more during Pharma Stakeholder Engagement with the Director-General in Lagos, Director-General of the Agency, Mrs Christianah Adeyeye told the audience that NAFDAC in collaboration with Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, has commenced the destruction of seized consignments of substandard and falsified medical products while a total of 24 40ft containers have  been destroyed.

“Over 250 containers suspected to contain tramadol or unregistered Substandard and Falsified, SFs, medicines are undergoing examination before they are released for destruction.

“Tramadol destroys. When we got information about 21 containers of tramadol were coming to Nigeria, I was almost crying and asking what have we done to them to want to destroy our people? Tramadol alters the state of mind. It destroys families, it destroys workforce. Our Enforcement and investigation inspectorate department on top of this.

Adeyeye who recalled that the removal of NAFDAC at the ports in 2011 up to 2018 worsened the problem of substandard and falsified, illicit drugs and unwholesome foods in the country said since the return of NAFDAC at the port in May 2018, the agency has seized and destroyed SFs, unwholesome food products worth over N3 billion.

“We are trying to put back the systems that were destroyed for seven years that we were out of the port. Unfortunately, we cannot put back lives that were destroyed and killed.

“To curb SF and counterfeit medicines, NAFDAC has deployed multifaceted strategies including enforcement of regulation and control of APIs imported into the country to ensure they meet the required standards for manufacturing.”

She further disclosed that to ensure Nigeria achieved 60 percent of local production by 2024, the agency has reduced the number of registered imported products to encourage local manufacturers.

Speaking, President of Association of Pharmaceutical Importers of Nigeria (APIN), Mr Nnamdi Obi said whether one is a local manufacturer of medicines in Nigeria or an importer, it was important that all products made available to Nigerians conform to international acceptable standards.

On his part, Publicity Secretary of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), Mr Oluwatosin Jolayemi affirmed that achieving 60 per cent local drug manufacturing in the country in the five years was possible because a lot of companies have improved and achieved capacity. “Capacity is being improved on a daily basis; a lot of factories are being expanded. A lot of machinery is being bought, but not all installed capacity was being used.”

Vanguard