By Tony Adibe
The South-East Director of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mr Martins Iluyomade, has urged manufacturers, shop owners of foods, cosmetics, drugs, and medical devices not to obstruct NAFDAC officials during inspections.
Iluyomade gave the warning during the Southeast Zone Stakeholders Engagement Forum on Thursday in Enugu. He said that the Food and Drug Act gave NAFDAC officials the power to enter premises any time without warrant search, stressing that the person who contravenes the provision of the Act is liable to conviction.
He said: “The law gives the provision that any proceed made from the sale of unregistered product will be forfeited to the Federal Government.” The Servicom Officer, Mrs. Victoria Akudo said that Servicom was all about service delivery and customers satisfaction, adding that the service by the Agency must be timely, transparent and have quality.
She said: “Servicom only protect you when you do the right thing. When a process is taking time unduly or when you are not satisfied with the services, Servicom comes in.” The Principal Regulatory Officer, Mrs Ogechi Ude, who spoke on Post Marketing Surveillance, said that it was the regulatory function of the Agency that involved in the assessment of the quality of all NAFDAC regulated products throughout their shelf life.
Ude urged the stakeholders in the food, drug, and cosmetics etc to source and buy registered products, adding that they should train their workers to always check products when they were closed to expiration date. She said that NAFDAC had deployed cutting edge technologies to fight against substandard and falsified products.
The Assistant Chief Regulatory Officer, Mrs Paschaline Ibiam, who spoke on good manufacturing and hygiene practices, urged them to be consistent in whatever they are manufacturing. According to Ibiam, staff of manufacturers should have access to medical treatment, while staff for packaging labelling system should be properly trained.
Dr Cletus Harrison, NAFDAC Regulatory Officer said that the Agency’s Automated Product Administration and Monitoring System (NAPAMS) is where registration is done online.
Harrison urged the stakeholders to have a personal email address for proper communication with the agency as registration could now be done with their phones. One of the stakeholders, Mr Emmanuel Eze, expressed joy over the forum, while urging NAFDAC to be organising the programme at least two times a year. The forum is a two days event, the second day would involve the pharmaceuticals stakeholders within the zone.
