The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has signed an MoU with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
The agreement intends to improve collaboration in preventing the influx of illegal pharmaceutical items and other dangerous chemicals into Nigeria.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Thursday in Abuja at the office of the Comptroller-General of Customs.
Adewale Adeniyi, NCS comptroller-general (CG), stated that the MoU is the result of years of committed dialogue and coordination between the agencies.
He stated that the MoU’s terms include a wide range of collaboration, particularly in the area of intelligence sharing.
The CG said:
“This partnership is a response to a major scourge we are facing in the country.”
“Sometimes, at midnight, NAFDAC DG sends intelligence to me, saying, ‘we learnt that a suspicious container may be berthing in the morning’. This kind of real-time information flow is critical to our joint efforts.
“It is time for all of us to say, collectively, that this will be the beginning of the end. We are going to save Nigeria and the future of our kids from these dangerous products.”
Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC director-general, described the move as a significant and necessary one, given the impact of the products regulated by her agency on Nigerians.
“We consume at least two of our regulated products everyday — food and healthcare items,” she said.
“This partnership is about ensuring that the food, drugs, and healthcare products we take are safe and of the highest quality.”
Adeyeye said unregulated and illicit products pose a threat to national security, as some approved chemicals could be misused by criminals and terrorists.
“We have ghost companies that are not on our lists. This MoU marks the beginning of the end of such practices,” she added.