The director-general of the Nationwide Company for Meals and Drug Administration and Management (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has disclosed that she inherited a staggering debt of ₦3.2 billion and located ₦500 million unaccounted for upon assuming workplace on the regulatory company.
Talking throughout an interview on Channels Tv’s Inside Sources monitored by our correspondent, Prof. Adeyeye highlighted the monetary challenges she confronted when she took over the management of NAFDAC. She famous that such a big debt, coupled with the lacking funds, might have led to the company being declared bankrupt if it had been working in a developed nation like america.
“After I obtained to NAFDAC, I met ₦3.2 billion in debt, and ₦500 million was lacking with no account for it earlier than I got here,” she said. “I requested them if they’d used the cash for capital initiatives. At the moment, ₦1 million was equal to $2000. So, multiply $2000 by ₦500 million. I used to be coming from the US the place cash was onerous to get. You labored onerous on your cash. I might have given up, however I noticed a chance and seized it.”
Adeyeye described the monetary scenario as dire, emphasising that in a rustic just like the US, the company would have confronted extreme monetary scrutiny, presumably resulting in exterior administration. Nonetheless, as a consequence of an absence of assets, she needed to take a special strategy.
“It was robust as a result of if that had occurred within the US, NAFDAC would have been declared bankrupt, and a monetary home would have taken over the administration of our funds. However I didn’t have cash to rent a monetary home.”
Regardless of the challenges, Adeyeye carried out cost-cutting measures and embraced know-how to enhance the company’s effectivity. “I mentioned I used to be going to chop to the bone. I’m going to be utilizing know-how to make sure that our system strikes on. We began Zoom conferences in 2018. Many individuals didn’t prefer it as a result of they had been used to getting journey allowances and DTAs. However we needed to save.”
Addressing the present state of the nation and the continued #EndBadGovernance protests in opposition to starvation and hardship, Adeyeye lamented the deterioration of the nation over the previous six a long time.
“The scenario in our nation is a mirrored image of six a long time of decadence. I used to be younger after we obtained our independence, and I knew the Nigeria that labored,” she mentioned, drawing from her private experiences and the sacrifices her household made for Nigeria’s democracy.
She recounted how her husband and different pro-democracy activists, together with President Bola Tinubu, fought for the nation’s democracy, typically at nice private value. “My husband, with the present president of this nation, President Bola Tinubu, fought for independence. A few of them had damaged houses. They had been at all times going to beg others to assist us and ship us from army rule then.”
Reflecting on her return to Nigeria after 37 years overseas, Adeyeye expressed her disappointment on the state of the nation, significantly within the areas of values, healthcare, and the pharmaceutical trade.
“I got here again to a rustic I couldn’t recognise anymore when it comes to our values, the state of our pharmaceutical trade, the standard of medicines, and usually healthcare supply. That’s why I mentioned what is occurring now could be a results of six a long time of decadence.”
Adeyeye concluded by calling for a collective effort to revive Nigeria’s values and transparency, warning that corruption has deeply infiltrated the material of society. “We can’t be blessed if we’ve corruption. Corruption has eaten into the fibre of society,” she mentioned.
