Sunday Ehigiator
The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has inaugurated 600 pharmacists into the Agency’s Pharmacists Reserve Volunteer Programme (PRVP) as part of efforts to strengthen the fight against substandard and falsified medicines and unwholesome food products across Nigeria.
The volunteers, who are already working in different fields, were drawn from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), representing the country’s six geopolitical zones.
Speaking at the inauguration and administration of the oath of allegiance to the volunteers, Adeyeye charged them to serve the country with integrity, discipline and commitment, warning them against pressures or inducements capable of compromising their responsibilities.
She said, “As patriotic Nigerians, reject such offers. The moment a regulator can be bought, the public loses its only protection.”
The NAFDAC boss said the selection of the 600 pharmacists was based on a deliberate and transparent process that balanced merit, availability and fair geographical representation.
According to her, the PRVP was not an internship or attachment, but an investment in the pharmacists and the future of regulatory practice in Nigeria.
“It is an investment in you, and through you, in the regulatory future of this country.”
Adeyeye said the volunteers would receive exposure to medicines regulation, including pharmacovigilance, compliance monitoring, quality assurance, data collection and public sensitisation against drug abuse.
She explained that the initiative was designed to build, over time, a national reserve of working pharmacists who could be mobilised at short notice whenever public health was threatened.
She listed possible situations where the volunteers could be deployed to include product recalls, suspected circulation of falsified medicines and emergencies in hard-to-reach communities.
“My ambition is that within the next few years, every state of the federation would have a standing pool of trained, vetted and mobilisable pharmacists working alongside our state offices,” she said.
Adeyeye added that the goal was to ensure that NAFDAC’s regulatory presence extended beyond its laboratories and ports of entry to markets, community pharmacies, patent medicine stores and primary healthcare centres nationwide.
“Regulation that lives only in the capital cannot protect a nation of more than two hundred million people. This Programme is how we take regulation to the doorstep of the Nigerian people,” she stated.
The DG outlined availability, discipline, integrity, confidentiality, continuous learning and respect for communities as key expectations from the volunteers.
She said volunteers must respond promptly whenever called upon for assignments and ensure that they completed their responsibilities.
On confidentiality, Adeyeye said information obtained during inspections and investigations belonged to NAFDAC and the Nigerian people and must not be disclosed on social media.
She also urged the volunteers to ask questions, study regulatory guidelines, take their training seriously and properly document their activities.
“You will enter markets, pharmacies and health facilities as ambassadors of NAFDAC and of the pharmacy profession. Conduct yourselves accordingly,” she said.
Adeyeye said the volunteers would also benefit from hands-on regulatory experience, professional mentoring and formal documentation of their service through certification and letters of service.
She noted that the programme would expose them to pharmacovigilance reporting, laboratory awareness, risk communication and enforcement procedures, while also creating a national professional network across the 36 states and the FCT.
According to her, the experience could support career advancement in the pharmaceutical and regulatory sectors, while volunteers who distinguished themselves would demonstrate their capabilities through practical service.
The DG further urged NAFDAC directors and state coordinators to take ownership of the volunteers, mentor them and deploy them meaningfully to ensure that the programme strengthened the Agency’s regulatory reach at the state level.
“To our six hundred volunteers: you carry today not just a certificate of enrollment, but a pledge to serve with integrity, to represent NAFDAC and your profession with honour, and to place the safety of the Nigerian public above every other consideration,” she said.