The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has inaugurated 600 pharmacists drawn from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as a reserve volunteer force to strengthen the fight against substandard and falsified medicines, unwholesome food and drug abuse.
The initiative is known as the Pharmacists Reserve Volunteer Programme (PRVP), designed to expand NAFDAC’s regulatory reach by creating a pool of trained and vetted pharmacists who can be mobilised at short notice to support emergency regulatory operations, product recalls, surveillance and investigations.
Inaugurating the volunteers and administering the oath of allegiance, NAFDAC director-general, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, charged them to uphold integrity, confidentiality and discipline in the discharge of their duties.
Adeyeye warned that the volunteers would encounter individuals who might attempt to compromise them, urging them to reject every inducement.
“The moment a regulator can be bought, the public loses its only protection,” she warned.
She said the 600 pharmacists were selected through a transparent process based on merit, availability and equitable geographical representation, ensuring that all six geopolitical zones were covered.
She said the programme was not an internship or ordinary attachment but an investment in the future of pharmaceutical regulation in Nigeria.
The volunteers, she stated , would receive practical exposure to compliance monitoring, quality assurance, data collection, public sensitisation, inspection and enforcement, as well as campaigns against drug abuse.
Adeyeye said the long-term objective was to establish a standing pool of trained pharmacists in every state who could work alongside NAFDAC state offices whenever public health emergencies or regulatory challenges arise.
She stressed that regulation could not remain concentrated in Abuja, laboratories and ports of entry if Nigeria was to effectively protect its more than 200 million citizens.
