The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has called on international partners to support the establishment of vaccine manufacturing facilities in Nigeria. This move is aimed at hastening the agency's push to attain World Health Organisation (WHO) Maturity Level 4 for vaccine lot release. Adeyeye made this appeal at the 8th Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers' Expo in Lagos.
Adeyeye acknowledged the continued support of international partners in NAFDAC's attainment of Maturity Level 3 and challenged them to contribute to fill-and-finish modular vaccine manufacturing. She noted that NAFDAC has nine functions to meet for full benchmarking for medicines and vaccines but has only been benchmarked in eight, with lot release for vaccines outstanding.
According to Adeyeye, Nigeria has the capacity to attain the required level except for local vaccine manufacturing. The cost of establishing vaccine manufacturing facilities has been estimated and is not expected to be too high. Adeyeye emphasized that Nigeria cannot afford to go back to its previous state and that it is time to return to local vaccine production.
Adeyeye commended President Bola Tinubu for the Executive Order 2024, describing it as game-changing and instrumental in addressing NAFDAC's long-standing call for incentives for local manufacturers operating under harsh conditions. She noted that both the Coordinating Minister of Health and Minister of State support the rationale behind the executive order, which aims to unlock the healthcare value chain.
NAFDAC's efforts to improve local manufacturing have yielded significant results. The agency's Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Roadmap audit of over 165 companies, funded by USAID and executed by United States Pharmacopeia, led to improved quality and a 70 per cent decrease in the import of products under the '5 plus 5' and Ceiling Initiatives between 2021 and 2025.
Furthermore, NAFDAC became a member of the International Medical Device Forum in 2023, and its Yaba laboratory became WHO pre-qualified in September 2023. The agency was also successfully re-benchmarked for Maturity Level 3, becoming the first agency in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve this feat.
Chairman of PMG-MAN, Mr. Oluwatosin Jolayemi, commended Adeyeye for driving international best practices and described the expo as the only complete pharma manufacturing platform in Central and West Africa. He called for the extension of the presidential executive order by two years at expiration in March 2027, emphasizing that medicine security requires policy consistency.
Key points
- NAFDAC DG Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye seeks international partners' support to establish vaccine manufacturing facilities in Nigeria.
- Adeyeye challenges international partners to contribute to fill-and-finish modular vaccine manufacturing.
- Nigeria aims to attain WHO Maturity Level 4 for vaccine lot release.
