|
New Page 3
NAFDAC to shut fake ‘pure’ water
firms
MALACHY UZENDU,
Abuja
HARD
times await counterfeiters of the popular sachet water (also known as pure
water) in the New Year as the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and
Control (NAFDAC) moves to shut down and penalise all such fake factories.
Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr. (Mrs.)
Dora Akunyili, who gave the indication in a question and answer session as Guest
Lecturer at the sixth Champion Annual Better Society Lecture series in
Abuja, described the counterfeiters as merchants of death."
She stated that she had already instructed
the agency’s inspectorate directorate to embark on a nation-wide sampling of
pure water so as to ascertain those that did not comply with the
registration directives.
Dr. Akunyili hinted that the agency was
aware that some unscrupulous individuals had been faking some brands of
registered pure water, but she warned that such illegal operators would
be smoked out and closed.
Said she: "While we ask people to look out
for NAFDAC registration number, date of manufacture and expiry dates on each
sachet of pure water bought, it is not only NAFDAC number that is in
issue. But, we want people to get sensitized enough to make them look out for
all these things.
"As for people that are in the habit of
counterfeiting pure water, it is just like other counterfeiters, from
next year, we are going to embark on nationwide campaign of collecting pure
water all over the federation for sampling. If we find any such factories, we
close them, ask them to pay penalty, we seize all the water they have and all
other products they produced without following all the guidelines we issued
them. But, I want to tell you that there is always room for improvement.
"But as for NAFDAC number, it has no
substitute for now. We have to put in this measure as a parameter for
assessment."
In her paper titled The Challenge of a
New Nigeria: Ethics, Leadership and The Primacy of Merit, she also spoke on
other vital matters and emphasized that given the condition of things in the
country, "there is indeed the need for a new Nigeria, a need to overhaul the
present ways of doing things, be it in public service, business, politics,
social relationships, pursuit of ambition, acquisition of wealth and setting of
target for individuals and or groups".
The NAFDAC boss said the Nigerian
traditional society was rooted in deep wholesome values and ethics of living,
working and thriving, pointing out that as at then, people were not found
wanting in terms of standards, noble ethics and achievement in all aspects of
life.
Stressing the need for a change of
attitude, Dr. Akunyili emphasized that where societal norms and values continued
to depreciate as obtain in the country, collapse of such a society remained
inevitable.
According to her, "there is often an
erroneous impression that the displacement of old values and ethics is
inevitable as modernism sets in", pointing out that "when modernism sets in, the
old order adjusts or gives way substantially. However, this displacement is not
exactly mechanical."
"There is nothing in modernism that
equates it with the sacking of hard work, honour, respect, originality,
benevolence, equity, patience, reliability, sensitivity, justice, affection and
good governance.
"Nothing about modernism prescribes the
replacement of these virtues with new vices of self and collective destruction.
Indeed, societies that post remarkable human development and economic progress,
even in contemporary times promote these virtues/values," Dr. Akunyili stressed.
Noting that it was an overthrow of
unwholesome ethics and values by destructive selfishness amplified by myopia and
parochialism that brought about the downturn of events in the country, Dr.
Akunyili noted that it was not modernism that brought about the problems.
"Let me say here that the multifaceted
reforms which the government of the moment has initiated are not only long
overdue, but also encouraging. I firmly believe that the effort of government is
indeed part of the quest for a new order and a new Nigeria of our aspiration",
she stressed.
On the issue of merit, Dr. Akunyili said
merit should be the primary consideration over all other considerations if the
nation must rise above its present status.
She condemned the present procedure where
promotion and reward are group-based rather than being adjudged on the basis on
individual output with discernible criteria for evaluation, stressing that if
private companies which emphasize individual competence excelled, the nation
could do better with its multifaceted talents, if appointments and promotions
are individual-based rather than being collective.
Citing examples with how she transformed
NAFDAC to a performing organization, Dr. Akunyili said she took up the gauntlet
and had to fight hard to subdue all internal deviants "and I can tell you,
today, they are all apostles of the vision and mission of NAFDAC. I can’t do
without them".
In attaining the level the organization
was operating, she stated that she took certain critical steps including
rebuilding the organisation for better performance, staff rationalization and
recruitment, staff re-orientation, review of NAFDAC tariff, laws as well as
setting new and effective standards for operating procedure and measurement of
performance against set goals.
Of all the departments in the agency, the
NAFDAC boss noted that regulatory and monitoring departments took greater part
of her time as she made sure she worked on the staff towards achieving reduced
importation of fake drugs into the country, beefing up surveillance at the
ports, mopping up fake and counterfeit drugs already in circulation, monitoring
good manufacturing practice by local manufacturers as well as streamlining
strict enforcement and registration guidelines.
With all the steps taken, she observed,
production capacity of local companies rose considerably with increased profit
margin, while made in Nigeria products which were hitherto rejected in other
countries, took over the markets in neighbouring West African countries.
She recommended that for the nation to
extricate itself from the present doldrums, there was the need for public
enlightenment and re-orientation, mass literacy, motivation and financial
empowerment of workers, stigmatisation of corruption, imposition of severe
sanctions on deviants, overhaul of the public service system, improvement of the
judiciary as well as the introduction of appropriate tax systems.
|
