NAFDAC to grant emergency approvals for ‘necessary products’ amid COVID-19

NAFDAC recommits to its mandate, begins sensitisation in Edo

Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general of NAFDAC

Products required to curtail the spread and aid medical response to the coronavirus pandemic will be granted expedited and emergency approvals by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

The agency in a statement today by Moji Adeyeye, its director-general, also said: “there will be limited Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) inspections for local facilities at this time.”

NAFDAC also noted that for products manufactured outside Nigeria, it is currently unable to conduct GMP of foreign facilities due to the pandemic and the current travel restriction on international travels for public officers.

However, Adeyeye in the statement said, “Applications for registration of products deemed to have urgent public health impact will be processed and given conditional and limited approvals.”

She stressed that existing regulatory processes will continue and the Agency remains operational with restricted access in place and a request that stakeholders engage relevant directorates via email and other electronic platforms, which are functional.

Caleb Ojewale

Caleb Ojewale is an Assistant Editor at BusinessDay Newspaper in Nigeria, where he also heads Industry and Real Sector, supervising all associated beats/desks. He is concurrently Editor for Features, Interviews, and the Newspaper's Backpage (Monday to Thursday). He has also been OP-ED Editor and a member of the Editorial Board. A well rounded business journalist; he is a recipient of multiple local and international journalism awards. Caleb is a fellow of the University of Oxford and OKP and has bachelor’s and Master's degrees in communication from Lagos State University and the University of Lagos, respectively.