The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and National Counter-terrorism Centre (NCTC) have committed to continue to work together to combat the menace of drug abuse in the country, misuse of chemicals and alcoholism with their associated dangers to the wellbeing of Nigerians.
This hint was dropped recently during a courtesy call by the management of NAFDAC led by its Director-General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye to NCTC headquarters in Abuja, at the instance of the latter with a view to enhancing and strengthening the already existing robust working partnership.
Prof Adeyeye, according to a statement by the Resident Media Consultant to NAFDAC, Sayo Akintola, said: “The purpose of the visit is to strengthen the working partnership between the two agencies which have similar interests including but not limited to the fight against drug abuse, chemical misuse and alcoholism which have been traced as major contributors to acts of terrorism.”
Prof. Adeyeye, who noted that the collaboration was very positive, recalled how she was told about a year into her first tenure as DG by someone in a privileged position in the society that there was an abuse of Tramadol.
She stated that her Agency is now using what is called “Track and Trace,” using the Traceability tool.
NAFDAC has so far been recognized as the leading Agency in Africa in terms of use of barcoding to trace where the medicine goes from the manufacturer to the end user.
“Unless the user is not on planet earth, we can trace it. We have global positioning systems that can pinpoint the medicine to the nearest location,” she added.
The NAFDAC chief executive pointed out that this is so important because the use of narcotics can alter the minds of its users and can lead to extremism, terrorism, loss of lives and livelihood.
While congratulating the National Coordinator of NCTC for the monumental achievement in building this new Centre, she said, “To me, this shows commitment to integration,” noting that silos mentality was what we were doing or sometimes we still do it.
“We cannot work in silos. It is when we work together, that we bring agencies of government together and we get a lot of results,” she added.
The National Coordinator of NCTC, Rear Admiral Yaminu Musa explained that the essence of the partnership is to draw up the modalities of partnership between the two agencies, stressing that: “It’s only when we partner with you, that you become aware that things we can do on your behalf then we can be called useful.”
According to him, the two agencies had some engagements in the past and some decisions were taken. He further said, this is the right time for the two agencies to review previous activities and be able to re-strategize and inform the new government on areas that needed further push whether it is policy push or strategy categorization of plans.
Rear Admiral Yaminu Musa added: “If we do it now and we do it right, we will be setting the new government on that pedestal to understand us better and for us to be able to deliver more for the government.”