Posted by I"m bowing out of NAFDAC to save my kids - Akunyili on
INSPITE of her acknowledged achievements in the war against fake drugs in Nigeria, the Director-General of the National Administration of Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Dora Akunyili is throwing in the towel when her five-year tenure expires next year.
INSPITE of her acknowledged achievements in the war against fake drugs in Nigeria, the Director-General of the National Administration of Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Dora Akunyili is throwing in the towel when her five-year tenure expires next year.
And in an emotion-laden voice, he told Saturday Vanguard that "I believe I've tried, let another person come and do his or her best." But more than the exertions and challenges that come with the sensitive job, Mrs. Akunyili is bidding the agency bye to save her family from inescapable trauma that has been their lot since she took up the gauntlet four years ago.
Akunyili showed, Thursday morning that she too is human. She was a special guest on the NTA Network programme, AM Express where she was invited to speak on her experiences in the last four years as boss of the food and drug regulatory agency. As characteristic of Akunyili, she was in her elements and spoke on the moribund NAFDAC she met on April 12, 2001 when she assumed duty. She also talked about the strategic marshal plan she conceived and deployed to revive and reposition the once prostrate agency plus the successes recorded as well as the pains and frustrations she and her team had encountered. Then, the failed assassination attempt on her life on Friday, December 26, 2003 came up. She was asked if she was quitting because of the threats to her life. Tears instantly welled up in Akunyili eyes. She tried to fight back tears but she lost this battle. It was such a pitiful sight as she battled to explain what she has passed through, the trauma her family has been put through and how she cannot freely visit Igboland today because those fake drug importers whose goods were destroyed have deep animosity towards her and could go to any extent.
She was to confirm that her cherished family has lived in perpetual fear, insecurity and outright uncertainty these last four years of her tenure as the NAFDAC director-general.
"I don't know how to describe this experience," said Akunyili, adding "my children, my husband constantly live in fear of losing me to the fake drug mafia who have wrecked so much havoc on the lives of the citizens of this country but whose activities we have drastically curtailed in the last four years."
She further told Saturday Vanguard that though the family pressure is part of her reasons for bowing out in 2006, there are, indeed, other factors. "Everyday, the fear of violent attack on me and my family is real. Attempts had been made to kidnap my sons or have any member of my family killed outrightly but God has been on our side.
The psychological trauma is terrible, it's unbearable. It has affected my health and that of my family members so much that they (children) have been mounting relentless pressure on me to quit this job. My family can't withstand this pressure for too long and that's why they want me back after April 2006 when my tenure would have expired. I'm not running away; I'm serving my full tenure but it won't be renewed. I think I've tried my best, let another person come and try his or her best.
"You can't imagine it but my son overseas goes to the internet first thing every morning to be sure that I've not been shot by these (drug) people. Their hatred is deep and I think I've tried. They (family) wanted me back after that attack of December 2003 but we decided that it would give these fake drug merchants a feeling of triumph and they would have been unstoppable.
"The pressure of work is also too much for me because we operate on self-set target to put NAFDAC on the pedestal that it will be the pride of most Nigerians. What we have done so far has been to build everything from the scratch and I thank God that we have made remarkable progress in that regard. I don't have to do ten years on this job and then become a human wreck on retirement. I want to retire into some other things. It is not that I'm too scared about my life. It's just that I know how deep their hatred is, and the amount of worries that my family will be put into.
"Before I took up this job, I went to the Blessed Sacrament and told God that He would be my only hope and protector on this assignment. Ever since that day, I've always known that I have God on my side and that's why I don't get scared when certain things happen around me."
True to Akunyili's heart-rending account, Saturday Vanguard gathered that more threat messages have been coming her way in recent times and suspicions surveillance of her family (including children who are schooling and working abroad) have been going on from fake drug suspects whose illicit business empires are fast crumbling as a result of the anti-fake drug war.
Early in January, a certain notorious fake drug suspect reportedly threatened in a court room that "no matter how many years it takes me to get this woman, I must finish her off for what she has used her agency to do (to) my business." This was in apparent expression of frustration for the inability of the suspect to cow or to compromise Dr. Akunyili and NAFDAC.
At the beginning of this year, newspaper media reports were awash with ominous predictions by notable seers and spiritual prophets that more violence might be unleashed on the NAFDAC boss unless adequate security was provided for her by the Federal Government.
But equally worrisome to the Akunyilis is the fact that their children hardly move about freely wheever they are in Nigeria. "They keep hiding themselves, they can't mix up with ease with other children who are their friends. One of them (children) once told a lie that I was not his mother, that we are cousins just to escape being identified as my child for fear of being harmed."
The firm decision by the family that Mrs. Akunyili would not be returning to the drug agency once her tenure expires in 2006 was earlier captured in a goodwill speech delivered by her husband, Dr. Chike Akunyili, a physician at the fourth anniversary ceremony of his wife as NAFDAC Director-General. Titled: "NAFDAC at Four: the Family Angle", he said that the Akunyili family and friends too have resolved that owing to the dangers and insecurity which the family is exposed to, it's time for his wife to call it quit.
Dr. Dora Akunyili also used the occasion to explain her role in the controversial sale of government houses in Lagos which led to the former Housing Minister, Mrs. Mobolaji Osomo being relieved of her job by the presidency. Her mention in the controversial house allocation tended to create a slur around the integrity of many of the people whose names were mentioned.
She explained that she got a house allocated to her on the basis of occupant's first option charge in which the first preference to buy is reserved for the sitting tenant in the monetisation regime. Her words: "The process through which the offer was made to me was very clear and transparent. A Federal Government's earlier decision said that sitting tenants should be given preference to buy the house where they are currently living in.
"On the basis of this official decision, the Housing and Urban Development Ministry allocated to me where I have been living in Lagos for the past four years. I don't live in any other house in Lagos except that place which was officially allocated to me. So, that covers me and that is due process government is talking about. Even where I live in Abuja is a rented place, not my official residence. The only house I own with my family is the one in Enugu. Apart from that, I don't own a house anywhere.
"I think my name was only mentioned (in the list of beneficiaries released by the government) because the comprehensive list of all those who bought or offered properties was released. There was no way anybody could have isolated my name from the general list. That was what happened. I never involved myself in any process irregular at all."
NAFDAC before April 12, 2001
Tuesday April 12, was, in fact, the day of her anniversary in NAFDAC. Dr. Akunyili in her 18-page anniversary presentation however before media executives and captains of industry traced the NAFDAC journey beginning from April 12, 2001 when she assumed leadership, saying that Nigeria's rating in the comity of nations in food and drug regulation was among the poorest at the onset. Before now, "made in Nigeria drugs," she says, "were officially unaccepted in other West African countries like Ghana and Sierra Leone with strong regulations.
"There was no level playing ground for fair competition and as such genuine manufacturers and importers could not compete with people that would either not add any active ingredient, or add a fraction, re-label expired products or add the same quantity of active ingredients, and then produce drugs that may not be efficacious because they lack the know-how of the original owners of the products. Fake drugs embarrassed our healthcare providers and eroded the confidence of the public in our healthcare delivery system.
"This development led to treatment failures, organ dysfunction or damage, worsening of chronic disease conditions and the death of many Nigerians. The situation became so bad that even when patients were treated with genuine antibiotics, they no longer responded due to resistance induced by previous intake of fake/counterfeit antibiotics. Substandard or unwholesome products were also in circulation."
She further revealed that "a baseline study carried out by NAFDAC in 2001/2002 to ascertain the level of incidence of fake drugs in Nigeria revealed that 67- 95% of drugs did not have any registration. The second phase of the study is being conducted in collaboration with WHO and DFID, and this involves laboratory testing," she noted.
Pressures
The rebuilding of NAFDAC at the time she came on board required some urgency. This, according to the NAFDAC boss, put her under tremendous pressure.
"I transformed this pressure into a positive drive to turn around the system for the better, a determination which I passed on to the staff through various meetings and interactions. Management took a number of measures to ensure the success of the rebuilding process such as staff re-orientation and motivation, restructuring and modernisation of our regulatory processes.
"NAFDAC was restructured into eight functional directorates as against the previous six. Two new directorate - ports inspection and enforcement were added to further position the agency to effectively tackle the problems emanating from port inspection lapses and poor enforcement activities."
Anti-fake drug campaigns
Among the successes recorded by the current leadership of the drug and food regulatory body was the hosting of a NAFDAC website within three months of her tenure. This is apart from the new standard operating procedures (SOPS) and guidelines developed and the automation of all NAFDAC regulatory processes to ensure faster product registration.
Public enlightenment was embarked upon by the agency to curb counter-feiting of medicines and other regulated products. Also, there were efforts to stop importations of fake drugs at source. Surveillance at all ports of entry was beefed up, counterfeit drugs and other unwholesome products already in circulation were mopped up by the agency. Also, the Akunyili regime, in the last four years, has among its successes, the review of tariffs and laws/reconstitution of the legal unit. In the last one year, NAFDAC has embarked on a nationwide campaign through the launching of Vitamin A food fortification programme in conjunction with UNICEF on the inclusion of iodine in domestic manufactured consumables such as salt so as to effectively combat iodine deficiency primary diseases like goitre among others.
Constraints & Way Forward
The agency has not achieved its successes without major constraints. Some of these, according to Akunyili, include insecure and unfriendly environment, conflict of interest, discriminatory regulation by exporting countries, chaotic drug distribution system, false declaration by importers, sophistication in clandestine drug manufacture, lack of inadequate legislation, and inadequate cooperation from some government agencies. As plans for its future, NAFDAC, according to its director general, "has plans to make its anti-counterfeiting strategies more pro-active than reactive through greater collaborative effort with other stakeholders at the local and international level.
Other measures include greater control on drug and food supply chain, sustained public enlightenment through consistent public education, information and communication, enhanced partnership with the pharmaceutical manufacturers and importers, especially in the areas of policy implementation and introduction of anti-counterfeiting security measures, opening of more laboratories for faster and more efficient service delivery, effective control of advertisement of drugs, especially herbal medicine through media cooperation."