Abuja, Dec. 24, 2023 – The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says its mandate of safeguarding the health of the nation cannot be accomplished without a corruption-free regulatory framework.
Its Director General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, said this at a three-day training programme on “Anti-corruption, Leadership in the 21st Century, and Ethical Value in the Workplace” for all the directors of the Agency.
Adeyeye said that without transparency, activities of the Agency would be compromised, which puts the health of the populace at risk.
She said: ‘’I don’t separate trade from regulation; if you have a good product, people will rush and buy irrespective of wherever you are; and if you don’t have a good product, people will not buy it. That’s what our business is all about in NAFDAC.’’
According to the NAFDAC boss, “whether it’s food, drug, medical devices or cosmetics, if we don’t do our job well, we will have bad products, we will allow bad products to come into the country and put the lives of our people in danger’’.
She said the training was apt, adding that the goal of the training was to address issues of leadership and governance.
Adeyeye said the training was to bring to the fore current issues of anti-corruption and ethical values in the workplace as well as organizational leadership.
‘’Undoubtedly, one of the most important and essential duties of management is to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud,’’ she said, noting that the training would serve as a forum discussion, sharing of experience, providing guidance, and developing strategy for good leadership.
The NSFDAC boss said the training aligned with the World Health Organization Global Benchmarking Tool (ISO 19004) for which the Agency was audited, and which culminated in her attainment of the WHO ML3 status, and recognition as a stable and well-functioning Regulatory Agency.
She said it was based on continuous quality monitoring that led the Agency to Maturity Level 4 and World Listed Authority status, adding that the goal was to place the consumers at an advantage health wise, and the stakeholders (large businesses and MSMEs) at a vantage point economically.
‘’Without transparency, our regulatory activities will be compromised, therefore, the training becomes a reference point for all staff in how to place a premium on the health and business of the customer and building integrity into the Agency regulatory framework’’, she said.
She said the management and all other personnel were expected to reflect on their leadership practices and the challenges of managing change, pointing out that staff training and capacity development had been prioritised at the Agency, as is typical of her administration, in the bid to improve staff expertise on the job.
Adeyeye said the training was for experienced leaders who were responsible for thinking strategically about the future of the organisation.
She said that in recent times, she had initiated and nurtured bilateral relations between the Denmark Veterinary and Food Administration and NAFDAC which opened windows of training for the Agency’s administrators and planners in various organisational change management, behavioral changes and conflict management abilities
She said the training in anti-corruption, financial fraud, integrity, accountability, and transparency, leadership attributes, was for directors, but said all NAFDAC officers would be trained.
Adeyeye expressed optimism that all the discussions and information shared during the training would be applied effectively in the Agency’s various formations.
Speaking at the end of the three-day training, the facilitator/consultant, Dr. Aminu Ibrahim Gusau, urged the directors to take advantage of the training to enhance their capacities on the job and help to achieve the mandate of the Agency to accomplish its mandate.
The issues of financial fraud, integrity accountability and transparency were addressed during the training. The consultant elucidated on how to mitigate risk, limit liability, protect organization and promote transparency in the Agency’s operations.
The U.S-based executive management consultant urged the top hierarchy of the Agency to work as a unit, warning that when one department is deficient, the entire system cannot function optimally to achieve the mandate of the Agency.
Going philosophical, Dr. Gusau warned that after the training exercise, ‘’if you see anything going wrong in the Agency and you keep quiet, God may not forgive you. Do not wait until there’s a problem before you start to talk.’’ (GBN)
