Chioma Umeha
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| L-R: Senate Chief Whip, Senator Prof. Olusola Adeyeye; Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye; President, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, Vice President, Sir Ifeanyi Atueyi and Secretary, Prof. Fola Tayo all of the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy at the Special Reception in honour of the two distinguished fellows by the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy which held at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel. |
Pharmacists have urged the federal government to retain medicines on the Exclusive
List as contained in the Nigerian constitution, noting that its movement to the
Concurrent List would worsen the problems of drug distribution and regulatory
control across the country.
The Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy made the call,
weekend at a special reception it held in honour of two distinguished fellows
of the Academy.
They are Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, Director-General
of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
and Prof. Chinedum Peace Babalola, Vice Chancellor, Chrisland University for
their outstanding achievements in public service.
Notable pharmacists who spoke at the event
stressed that it would be counter-productive and exceedingly damaging to the
country to move medicines to the Concurrent List as being advocated in some
quarters.
Speaking at the event, Prince Julius
Adelusi-Adeluyi, the President, Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy said; “medicines
are currently on the Exclusive List (item 21 of part 1 of the second schedule
of the 1999 constitution) and though there appears to be an ill-advised move to
remove it from this list to the Concurrent List, the Academy wishes to strongly
advise that the health needs of Nigerians are best served by retaining
medicines on the Exclusive list.
“This is particularly critical, if we are to avert
a worsening of the chaos of drug distribution across Nigeria and the nightmare
this poses for regulatory control.”
He lamented that Nigeria had clearly transited
from being a mere courier country to one in which young people now actively
abuse drugs and hard substances.
He said there’s need for aggressive regulatory
control backed by legislation to control the availability of drugs and other
controlled substances across the country.
Also addressing journalists, Prof. Mojisola
Adeyeye, said: “curtailing drug abuse is everyone’s responsibility. However one
essential measure in preventing abuse is making sure that access is cut off at
the points of entry which is what we have been striving to do in spite of all
the barriers.”
“We have intercepted many containers of illegal
substances as I speak. There must also be a communal approach to tackling the
issue by propagating the right message that illicit drugs can damage the brain
and ruin lives. Community and religious leaders must drive and champion this
cause of fighting substance abuse,” the NAFDAC’s DG noted.
It’s worthy to note that Prof. Adeyeye is the
first African woman to bag the fellowship of American Association of
Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) in the US having served as the Founding Chair
of the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences at Roosevelt University,
Illinois.
Similarly, Prof. Chinedum Babalola who has had a
distinguished career as a drug development expert, researcher, teacher and
mentor to undergraduates and young pharmacists expressed her joy at being
recognized by the Academy.
“I am happy to be so honoured by the Academy. I am
not a competitor in the world of men but I also want to achieve that which is
made possible by my husband. It is my vision that the university would be the
best in terms of pharmacy and medicine as a centre of excellence because I
cannot leave there without making the mark,’’ she said.
Prince Adelusi-Adeluyi however called on the
government at different levels to help provide support especially with regards
to legislation as well as enforcement, to enable NAFDAC deliver impeccably on
its mandate.
Dignitaries who graced the event include the
Senator representing Osun Central Senatorial District and Senate Chief Whip,
Senator (Prof.) Olusola Adeyeye; Chairman, Association of Pharmaceutical
Importers of Nigeria (APIN) Pharm. Nnamdi Obi and Deputy Vice Chancellor
(Academic), Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), Awka, Prof. Charles Esimone etc.
