Invites Adebayo, Ehanire, NAFDAC DG
By James Emejo
The Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary) yesterday queried the non-implementation of the Backward Integration Policy (BIP) on needles and syringes in the country, five years after it was validated in 2017.
The committee also frowned at the failure of some invited heads of ministries and agencies, including the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo, and the Director-General, National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, who are to appear before the committee.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe, at an investigative public hearing on a motion on ‘The Need to Regulate the Manufacturing, Importation and Use of Syringes and Needles to Protect the Lives and Safety of Nigerians as well as the Economy of the Country’, however, summoned the trio to appear before the committee on April 15, 2021, which is the next adjourned date for the hearing.
He said Adebayo must give reasons why a “policy validated since 2017 is still lying on his table as at 2021.”
Oloriegbe also sought to know from the minister why the BIP for syringe and needle had not been implemented despite the fact that it is an essential commodity and product for the country.
The committee also asked Ehanire to clarify if there’s an existing policy on syringe and needle utilisation in the country, and why it had been jettisoned.
The lawmakers also sought to know why the federally-owned hospitals and medical centres among others are not using locally-manufactured syringe and needle.
The committee also asked the NAFDAC DG to provide the list of companies that have been importing syringe and needles into the country and the quantities imported in the last 15 years.
It also enquired to know the numbers of companies which have transited from importation of syringe and needle to local production over the period.
Oloriegbe further demanded the evidences of post market survey for syringe and needles and specific reports issued by NAFDAC.
The hearing followed a resolution of the Senate at plenary, which authorised a probe into the state of manufacturing, importation and policy guideline for syringe and needle in the country.
Sponsored by Oloriegbe (APC Kwara Central) and Senator Suleiman Umar (APC, Kwara North), the motion raised issues on safety as well as concerns that over one billion units per annum of syringe and needles are being imported into the country, in spite of available local capacity, thereby making the country to lose huge foreign exchange, among other things.
However, the President of Medical Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MMAN), Mr. Akin Oyediran, told journalists that the real issue was about how much “we are exposing Nigerians to substandard syringes coming in from China.”
He said the BIP policy was drafted about five year ago, adding that the industry had been working closely with the ministry of industry, trade and investment to ensure that the policy gets implemented.
