Modernisation of NAFDAC’s regulatory system, key to public health safety – D-G

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Wednesday said that the modernisation of its regulatory system was pivotal to its mandate to safeguard public health.

The Agency’s Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, made this known at a media parley held in Lagos to highlight some of the agency’s achievements in 2025 and its plans for 2026.

Adeyeye said the modernisation was strategic and imperative to ensure that NAFDAC systems remained credible, efficient, transparent and fit for purpose.

She added that the modernisation would also protect public health and support access to quality, safe, and effective regulated products.

The D-G said the roadmap to modernise NAFDAC’s regulatory system started in 2018 through adoption of international standard and best practices anchored on quality management system and legal framework for all regulatory activities.

She noted that the modernisation was hinged on NAFDAC’s five strategic pillars, which included strong leadership and governance; institutionalisation of best practices; and safety and quality of regulated products.

Other pillars, she added, are continuous monitoring along the supply chain, and efficient financial and performance management.

“The roadmap to the modernisation of the agency’s regulatory system was very steep and rough with a lot of challenges which didn’t deter us from our goal of safeguarding the nation’s health.

“The foundation laying came with a resolve to start from the beginning based on establishing a quality management system and legal framework for all the regulatory activities accompanied by a continued evolution of all the regulatory practices.

“The foundation of the roadmap was on the agency’s composite, but molded based on institutionalisation of best practices,” she said.

The NAFDAC boss noted that the establishment and implementation of the agency-wide quality management system helped to ensure fairness, consistency, and preparedness in regulatory decision-making.

She added that it also played a significant role in NAFDAC’s attainment of ISO 9001 certification in 2019.

She stressed that the institutionalisation of the agency’s good regulatory practices based on strong legal framework promoted principles of transparency, accountability, consistency, stakeholder engagement, and evidence-based decision-making.

Adeyeye noted that through these efforts, NAFDAC gazetted more than 28 regulations for products, while providing a robust legal and operational framework that ensured clarity, predictability and fairness in regulatory oversight.

She also noted that the modernisation of NAFDAC’s regulatory system had influenced food safety and processes over the last eight years.

According to her, the modernised regulatory system ensures that food safety practices are entrenched long before the food gets to consumers through feed quality and crop protection practices.

She said one of the major feats of the agency in food safety was the decentralisation of the food registration process in 2018, which significantly supported the timely registration of the growing number of locally produced and processed food products.

She said: “Food safety remains one of the most critical public health, economic, and development priorities for any country.

“Over the years, the scope, complexity, and volume of regulated food products have expanded significantly, driven by rapid advancements in food technology, globalisation of trade, and increasing digitalisation of regulatory processes.

“These realities have necessitated a shift from traditional regulatory models to modern technology-driven, and risk based regulatory systems that are beneficial to micro-scale and small-scale food industries which previously faced challenges related to product registration.”

She reaffirmed that NAFDAC remained firmly committed to continuous improvement anchored on sustainability, innovation, and public health protection.

The D-G said the agency would continue to deepen and expand regulatory reliance pathways and ensure full digitalisation of regulatory processes through implementation of its Integrated Regulatory Information Management System