The Director of Centre for Drug Discovery, Development and Production (CDDDP), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan, Professor Chinedum Peace Babalola has urged the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to increase its efforts in monitoring and regulating the production and importation of medicines into the country.

The Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Ibadan gave this charge while speaking to CEOAfrica in an interview at the recently concluded International Conference on Improving Access to Quality Medicines through Appropriate Legislations and Policies which was organised by the CDDDP.

While the CDDDP Director commended the efforts of NAFDAC in safeguarding the public health of the country, she however noted that there is still a lot to be done to ensure Nigerians are free from dangerous and substandard medical products. She stated that all hands must be on deck to ensure better access to quality and essential drugs in the country.

Speaking about the objectives of the international conference, Professor Babalola explained that CDDDP, funded by MacArthur Foundation, was established to ensure that Africans have access to quality medicines through research, development and policies. She said “Our aim is for Africans to be empowered to make, to regulate, to distribute their own quality medicines.

“The objective of this conference was for minds to come together from different sectors to talk about the problems with access to medicines, the effectiveness of existing policies on medicine regulations and the ways to improve access to quality medicines by Africans, because every human being deserves to have access to quality medicine.”

Prof Babalola further explained that the desire of the Centre is to bridge the gap between that academic community and the policy makers; between the regulators and the industry as well as between the industry and the public who are the consumers.

In his own opinion, the Head of Department of the Drug Manufacturing Unit, Pharmacist Ahmed Gana Muhammed who spoke to CEOAfrica commended the effort of the organisers of the conference. He noted that it is imperative to discuss the policies and enforcement of regulations to ensure safe and quality drugs.

The Oyo State Chairman of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharmacist Abiodun Ajibade who also spoke with CEOAfrica explained that without adequate laws and policies in place, access to safe medicines will be challenged, hence the need to review such policies. He revealed that PSN is moving to collaborate with regulatory agencies and the government to ensure that quality drugs are accessible to the populace.

Speaking about the benefit of the conference, he said “We all know that the importation of counterfeit and fake drugs is very high. That is why it is important to hold this type of conference to ensure that the people in government will know the implication of substandard drugs so that they will fashion out more laws and regulations that will aid good drug distribution and availability.”