Obstructing NAFDAC official during inspection, an offence -director
By Chinelo Ude
South-East Director of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mr. Martins Iluyomade, has urged manufacturers, shop owners of foods, cosmetics, drugs and medical devices not to obstruct the agency’s officials during inspections.
Iluyomade gave the warning during the South East Zone Stakeholders Engagement Forum yesterday in Enugu.
He said that the Food and Drug Act gave NAFDAC officials the power to enter premises any time without warrant search.
According to him, the person who contravenes the provision of the Act is liable to conviction.
“The law gives the provision that any proceed made from the sale of unregistered product will be forfeited to the Federal Government,” he said.
Servicom Officer, NAFDAC, Victoria Akudo,said that Servicom was all about service delivery and customers’ satisfaction.
According to Akudo, the service by the agency must be timely, transparent and have quality.
“Servicom only protects you when you do the right thing. When a process is taking time unduly or when you are not satisfied with the services, Servicom comes in,” she said.
The Principal Regulatory Officer, Mrs Ogechi Ude, who spoke on ‘Post-Marketing Surveillance’, said that it was the regulatory function of the agency that is involved in the assessment of the quality of all NAFDAC-regulated products throughout their shelf lives.
Ude urged stakeholders in food, drug and cosmetics and related areas to source and buy registered products, adding that they should train their workers to always check products when they were close to expiry date.
She said that NAFDAC had deployed cutting edge technologies to fight substandard and falsified products.
Assistant Chief Regulatory Officer, Mrs. Paschaline Ibiam, who spoke on ‘Good manufacturing and hygiene practices’, urged them to be consistent in whatever they are manufacturing.
According to Ibiam, staff of manufacturers should have access to medical treatment, while staff for packaging and labelling system should be properly trained.
NAFDAC’s Regulatory Officer. Dr Cletus Harrison said that the agency’s Automated Product Administration and Monitoring System (NAPAMS) is where registration is done online.
Harrison urged the stakeholders to have a personal email address for proper communication with the agency as registration could now be done with their phones.
One of the stakeholders, Mr Emmanuel Eze, expressed joy over the forum, while urging NAFDAC to keep organizing the programme at least twice a year.
The forum is a two-day event, the second and day (today) would involve the pharmaceutical stakeholders within the zone.
