The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said that its mandate of safeguarding the health of the nation cannot be accomplished without a corruption-free regulatory framework.
At a three-day training programme on ‘Anti-corruption, Leadership in the 21st Century, and Ethical Value in the Workplace’, which was recently held for the agency’s directors, its Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye said that without transparency, NAFDAC activities would be compromised, which would put the health of the populace at risk.
She stressed: “I don’t separate trade from regulation; if you have a good product, people will rush and buy irrespective of wherever you are; and if you don’t have a good product, people will not buy it. That’s what our business is all about in NAFDAC”.
According to her, “whether it is food, drug, medical devices or cosmetics, if we don’t do our job well, we will have bad products, we will allow bad products to come into the country and put the lives of our people in danger”.
Describing the training as apt, Adeyeye said that the goal of the training was to address issues of leadership and governance, adding that the training would place a strong emphasis on current issues of anti-corruption and ethical values in the workplace, as well as organizational leadership.
‘’Undoubtedly, one of the most important and essential duties of management is to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud”, she said, noting that the training would serve as a forum discussion, sharing of experience, providing guidance, and developing strategy for good leadership.
The DG noted that the training aligns with the World Health Organisation Global Benchmarking Tool (ISO 19004) for which the agency was audited, and which culminated in her attainment of the WHO ML3 status, and recognition as a stable and well-functioning regulatory agency.
Based on continuous quality monitoring, Adeyeye said that it is what would lead the agency to Maturity Level 4 and World Listed Authority status, adding that the goal is to place the consumers at an advantage health wise, and the stakeholders (large businesses and MSMEs) at a vantage point economically.
“Without transparency, our regulatory activities will be compromised, therefore, the training becomes a reference point for all staff in how to place a premium on the health and business of the customer and building integrity into the Agency regulatory framework”, she said.
She disclosed that management and all other personnel are expected to reflect on their leadership practices and the challenges of managing change, pointing out that staff training and capacity development have been prioritised at the agency, as is typical of her administration, in other to improve staff expertise on the job.
She noted that the training was for experienced leaders who are responsible for thinking strategically about the future of the organization.
The NAFDAC boss recalled that she had in recent times initiated and nurtured bilateral relations between the Denmark Veterinary and Food Administration and NAFDAC, which opened windows of training for the agency’s administrators and planners in various organizational change management, behavioral changes and conflict management abilities
She said the training in anti-corruption, financial fraud, integrity, accountability, and transparency, all leadership attributes, was for directors, but all NAFDAC officers would be trained, expressing the hope that all the discussions and information shared during the training would be applied effectively in the agency’s various formations.
At the end of the programme, the facilitator/consultant, Dr. Aminu Ibrahim Gusau urged the directors to take advantage of the training to enhance their capacities on the job and help to improve the wide-ranging abilities of the agency to accomplish its mandate.
The issues of financial fraud, integrity accountability and transparency were addressed in the training. The consultant elucidated how to mitigate risk, limit liability, protect organization and promote transparency in the agency’s operations.
The United States-based executive management consultant urged the agency’s top hierarchy to work as a unit, warning that when one department is deficient, the entire system cannot function optimally to achieve the mandate of the Agency.
Launching philosophical, Gusau warned that after the training exercise, ‘’if you see anything going wrong in the Agency and you keep quiet, God may not forgive you. Do not wait until there’s a problem before you start to talk”.
