The House of Representatives at its resumption of plenary and the commencement of the fourth session of the 8th National Assembly urged the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) to re-activate its Mobile Authentication Service to cover all drugs purchased in Nigeria. Furthermore, it also urged NAFDAC to begin a nation- wide publicity on the importance of the MAS.
Presenting the motion on the subject, Hon. Babajimi Benson (APC: Lagos) highlighted the danger of fake drugs as it undermined medical treatment, health care delivery and contributed to pre-mature deaths. He stated that drug adulteration and counterfeiting contributed negatively to the wellbeing of Nigerians with its illicit trade escalating within the Nigerian health care system in recent times. In addition, he mentioned NAFDAC’s efforts since 2010 to combat the sale of counterfeit drugs by enabling consumers verify the authenticity of any drug purchase through MAS.
Speaking further, Hon. Benson elaborated that the MAS allowed consumers seeking to buy genuine drugs to scratch a coating on the packaging of the drug to reveal a unique 12 or 13 digit PIN that could be sent by text to the short code approved by NAFDAC. Consumers who used this MAS service would get a response within seconds indicating if the drug was genuine, fake or stolen. However, he mentioned that the reduced campaign on the authentication process meant that most of the drugs over the counter and infant syrups no longer have the unique 12 or 13 digit PIN. He also apportioned blame on NAFDAC and the SON stating that their negligence had led to the influx of fake and counterfeit drugs into Nigeria’s drug markets and the health sector in general.
The House also mandated its Committee on Healthcare Services to ensure compliance of the resolutions.
