The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has cried out over inadequate personnel to carry out its activities in the country.
The Director-General of the agency, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, made this known in Abuja when the National Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre, NCTC, Maj-Gen. Adamu Laka, paid a visit to her office.
Adeyeye said a partnership between the two strategic agencies in the country was apt in safeguarding the lives of Nigerians.
She expressed the agency’s readiness to partner with the NCTC, said they needed more personnel. According to her, the agency has just 2,000 staff, stating that they need more than 12,000 personnel, citing the country’s population.
”As a regulatory agency, we are supposed to have 12,000 staff, but we are barely 2,000 in a country of more than 230 million.
”NAFDAC staff work round the clock. We are not just a civil service organisation but a regulatory body that is mandated to protect lives on a daily basis from food to drugs, to water, precursors and chemicals that can fall into the hands of the terrorists,” she said.
She noted that NAFDAC was suitably positioned to fight drug counterfeiting, drug abuse, unwholesome food and unauthorised handling of chemicals fuelling terrorists operations and other criminal activities in the country.
According to her, NAFDAC, being a World Health Organisation Maturity Level 3 Regulatory Authority, has highly qualified experts and well equipped laboratories.
GeneralLaka, on his part, described NAFDAC as an embodiment of knowledge in the area of science and research. He pledged his continuous support to the agency in the areas of operations, research, laboratory testing and investigation.
