The director general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Moji Adeyeye, has said that the federal government was working out compensation worth over N1 billion for companies that lost their codeine products during the seizures carried out nationwide over a year ago.
Speaking at a media briefing in Lagos on Monday, April 29, Adeyeye said about 2.5 million codeine seizures were made across the country.
“It is about a year ago when the documentary about codeine was made which led to the ministry of health banning the product.
“Since that time, we have been having a series of meetings with many government agencies and committees such as the national security adviser group, the presidency and the ministry of health.
“The final point is that we recalled about 2.5 million bottles of codeine and then put them on hold. This is sad because some companies did not commit the crime.
“So we put all the codeine on hold including the powder that they are using to the syrup. It will cost about N1 billion plus to reimburse these manufacturers,” she said.
The director general also said the government was already working on the reimbursement plan.
She said NAFDAC was also working tirelessly to stem the tide of manufacturing, distribution and use of substandard and fake drugs in the country.
“We are working on whatever the Ministry of Health is doing now to reimburse those companies affected. We just called a meeting about the last two weeks on it.
“The amount that is tied to the companies and they will be reimbursed because most of them legally produce the product in spite of the bad distribution channels.
“In tackling fake and substandard products, we do raids and many a time, our staffs don’t sleep, they keep vigil, mainly to intercept those drugs in concert with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
“We are also working with the local manufacturers to make sure that their products attain the international standard,” she said.
Reacting to the report that 70 per cent of medicines in Nigeria are fake Adeyeye said a study jointly carried out by NAFDAC, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Department for International Development (DFID) in 2005 revealed that fake medicines stood at 16 per cent.
The director general who described the report as “untrue and grossly inaccurate also said a survey conducted by NAFDAC in 2017 and 2018 on some widely used drugs showed that Nigerian medicines were 98 per cent wholesome.
