The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has announced pre-qualification approval for the agency’s Yaba, Lagos laboratory as a Central Drug Control Laboratory.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday, stated that the World Health Organisation recently granted the approval of the CDCL.

She said that the approval of the laboratory for the agency was a significant milestone in its dedication to ensuring the safety and quality of pharmaceutical products.

According to her, the pre-qualification approval was communicated to the agency via a mail received from WHO pre-qualification inspection team on September 15.

She said that the success was finally published on the WHO website, adding that the website address through which the public could cite and reference was equally shared with the agency for dissemination.

“You can access the information on the pre-qualification procedure, as well as the list of pre-qualified quality control laboratories, on the pre-qualification unit medicine website:  https://extranet.who.int/pqweb/medicines.

She stated, “NAFDAC is Nigeria’s regulatory body responsible for ensuring the safety and quality of food, drug, cosmetics, medical devices and other related products. NAFDAC mission is to safeguard public health by ensuring that only safe and wholesome products are made available to the Nigerian public.

“This is a huge landmark achievement for the agency and Nigeria. Only a few laboratories in the world have the apex status of WHO prequalification. Our journey towards this milestone actually started in 2010, but with renewed efforts and more commitment to attempts by our management and the Federal Government in the last four years, we have finally achieved this goal.

“The WHO prequalification of the CDCL is a testament to the unwavering commitment of NAFDAC to meeting international standards of excellence in drug quality control and regulation.’’

The NAFDAC DG further said that the recognition brought numerous benefits to CDCL, NAFDAC, and most importantly the Nigerian people.

Mrs Adeyeye listed the benefits which the WHO prequalification of the CDCL would bring to Nigeria as global recognition, enhanced pharmaceutical quality, international collaboration and advanced public health.

Others are streaming regulatory processes, enhancement of credibility and advancement of Nigeria’s healthcare system.

She said the achievement would not have been possible without the hard work, dedication and unwavering commitment of the Minister of Health, NAFDAC management, CDCL staff and other partners such as the WHO Nigeria country office, USP PQM + Nigeria country office and the Global Fund.

The DG said that the status underscored the agency’s commitment to safeguarding public health and improving healthcare access for all Nigerians.

She, however, said that the agency would continue to work to uphold the highest standards of pharmaceutical quality control and regulation.

According to her, NAFDAC remains committed to its mission of safeguarding public health by ensuring safe, effective and quality medicines and healthcare products available to Nigerians.

The NAFDAC boss expressed the desire to leverage on the achievements to strengthen partnership and enhance healthcare access, and contribute to the overall improvement of public health in Nigeria and the West African region.

(NAN)