By Opeyemi Adelakun
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has inaugurated 600 pharmacists into its newly established Pharmacists Reserve Volunteer Programme as part of efforts to strengthen the fight against substandard and falsified medicines and unwholesome food.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola on Sunday.
The pharmacists, who are already working in different fields, were drawn from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with representation from all six geopolitical zones.
Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, who inaugurated the programme and administered the oath of allegiance to the volunteers, said the initiative was designed to expand the agency’s regulatory presence beyond its conventional operational centres.
Adeyeye urged the pharmacists to serve the country with uncompromising integrity, warning that they could encounter pressures or inducements intended to influence their professional judgment.
“As patriotic Nigerians, reject such offers. The moment a regulator can be bought, the public loses its only protection,” she said.
According to the NAFDAC boss, the selection of the 600 volunteers followed a deliberate process based on merit, availability and equitable geographical representation.
She stressed that the programme was not an internship or ordinary attachment but an investment in the regulatory capacity of the country.
The volunteers are expected to receive practical exposure to areas including pharmacovigilance, compliance monitoring, quality assurance, data collection and public sensitisation on the dangers of drug abuse.
Adeyeye said the programme would also prepare the pharmacists to respond to regulatory emergencies, including product recalls, suspected circulation of falsified medicines and situations requiring additional support in hard-to-reach communities.
She said NAFDAC’s long-term objective was to establish a trained and vetted pool of pharmacists in every state who could be mobilised when necessary to support the agency’s regulatory activities.
“Regulation that lives only in the capital cannot protect a nation of more than two hundred million people. This is how we take regulation to the doorstep of the Nigerian people,” Adeyeye said.
The NAFDAC director-general identified availability, discipline, confidentiality, continuous learning and respect for communities as key expectations from the volunteers.
She said volunteers must respond promptly whenever called upon for assignments and ensure that such responsibilities were completed.
On confidentiality, Adeyeye warned the pharmacists against disclosing sensitive information obtained during inspections and investigations.
“The information they handle during inspections and investigations belongs to the Agency and to the Nigerian people, not to social media,” she said.
She also urged the volunteers to take their training seriously, study relevant guidelines and properly document their activities.
Adeyeye said they would enter markets, pharmacies and healthcare facilities as representatives of NAFDAC and the pharmacy profession and must therefore conduct themselves professionally.
The programme, she added, would provide the volunteers with practical regulatory experience in areas such as pharmacovigilance reporting, laboratory operations, risk communication and enforcement procedures.
She said the pharmacists would also receive training and mentorship from experienced professionals, while their participation would be formally documented through certification and letters of service.
Adeyeye noted that the programme would create a professional network linking pharmacists across the 36 states and the FCT, while the experience gained could contribute to career advancement in the regulatory and pharmaceutical sectors.
She further urged NAFDAC directors and state coordinators to take ownership of the volunteers, mentor them and deploy them meaningfully to ensure that their participation translates into stronger regulatory operations at the grassroots.
Addressing the 600 volunteers, Adeyeye said: “You carry today not just a certificate of enrollment, but a pledge to serve with integrity, to represent NAFDAC and your profession with honour, and to place the safety of the Nigerian public above every other consideration.”
She subsequently declared the NAFDAC Pharmacists Reserve Volunteer Programme inaugurated.
The programme coordinator and Director of Narcotics and Controlled Substances, Dr Momodu Omamegbe Rametu, said the initiative had developed from an initial call for expressions of interest into a national pool of 600 pharmacists.
Rametu explained that the reserve was designed as an organised backup system that could be deployed during emergencies and to provide additional support for specific regulatory activities.
According to her, the initiative would also encourage greater citizen participation in regulation, post-marketing surveillance and campaigns aimed at reducing drug abuse.
The Coordinator of the NAFDAC Training School, Dr Tunde Sigbeku, said the programme would focus on equipping the volunteers with the knowledge required to complement their professional skills.
Sigbeku described volunteering as a call to responsibility and service rather than merely a title.
He said the agency’s online training would expose participants to its operations, including post-market surveillance, pharmacovigilance, antimicrobial resistance prevention, inspection and enforcement, narcotics and controlled substances.
The training, he added, would also cover the dangers of drug abuse and its impact on society, while equipping the volunteers to assist with surveillance, intelligence gathering and research.
Sigbeku congratulated Adeyeye on the initiative, describing it as the first time NAFDAC would have a nationwide reserve of trained personnel capable of providing additional support in its campaign against fake and substandard products.
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