US embassy cable - 04LAGOS547

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000547 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, ETRD, SOCI, TBIO, PINR, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: WAR ON NAFDAC: THE BATTLE AGAINST 
COUNTERFEIT DRUGS 
 
 
1. (U) Summary:  Just three months after an attempted 
assassination of Director General Dr. Dorothy Akunyili, 
Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug 
Administration and Control (NAFDAC) seems to be under 
attack.  Fires gutted the agency's Lagos office on 
March 7, and less than 72 hours later, its Kaduna 
laboratory burned down.  Despite these attacks, 
NAFDAC's management and staff remain focused on their 
goal of significantly reducing the manufacture and 
distribution of counterfeit drugs.  Barring further 
attacks on its personnel and facilities, the agency may 
achieve some success.  End summary. 
 
2. (U) Fires gutted NAFDAC's Lagos office last Sunday, 
just weeks after the agency restated its commitment to 
reducing the proliferation of counterfeit drugs.  The 
fire affected key directorates of the agency's Lagos 
operations, including the Ports Inspection Directorate 
(PID), the Establishment Inspection Directorate (EID), 
and the director general's office.  According to one of 
NAFDAC's senior staff, the agency lost records of its 
port activities and raids.  Parts of its Enforcement 
Directorate and Administrative Department survived 
intact, but hundreds of records were lost.  The PID and 
EID have been relocated, and the agency's director 
general is now expected to work from Abuja. 
 
3. (U) Even as investigations into the cause of the 
fire began, NAFDAC's Kaduna laboratory, its largest, 
burned down.  According to news reports, fires started 
simultaneously in the laboratory's three buildings 
around 0300 on Wednesday, March 10, ultimately 
destroying millions of dollars of equipment.  Nigeria's 
National Assembly responded by calling for 24-hour 
surveillance of all NAFDAC facilities, and the agency's 
senior staff advised personnel to keep a low profile, 
particularly in light of speculations that a powerful 
cartel may have been involved in the two incidents. 
 
4. (U) The fires follow three reported attempts on the 
life of NAFDAC Director General Dr. Dorothy Akunyili. 
Late last December, gunmen allegedly attacked Dr. 
Akunyili in her hometown, Agulu, in Anambra State. 
Earlier incidents took place at her home in Abuja while 
she was on official trips.  The GON responded by 
calling for increased security around Dr. Akunyili and 
NAFDAC's staff and facilities nationwide. The GON 
reportedly deployed security personnel, and NAFDAC 
hired private security agencies at several of its 
facilities. 
 
5. (U) Many observers believe NAFDAC's moderate success 
in reducing the manufacture and distribution of 
counterfeit drugs may have earned it very powerful 
enemies.  According to the Chairman of NAFDAC's 
Governing Council, Dr. Andy Andem, the agency destroyed 
substandard and fake products worth N6.07 billion ($45 
million) in 72 exercises in the year to November. 
Andem says the agency secured thirty convictions in 
counterfeit drugs-related cases in 2003 and believes 
another forty cases are pending in Nigerian courts. 
NAFDAC routinely embarks on enlightenment campaigns to 
educate the public about genuine products and expose 
fake versions and their manufacturers, if the 
identities of the latter are known.  Such exposure may 
not sit well with producers of counterfeit drugs. 
 
6. (U) NAFDAC's regulation and control of the 
manufacture, distribution, sale, and use of drugs has 
improved significantly since Dr. Akunyili was appointed 
in April 2001.  In the three years since she took 
office, Dr. Akunyili has reorganized NAFDAC's 
operations and created directorates for registration 
and regulatory affairs, laboratory services, narcotics 
and controlled substances, ports inspections, 
establishment, and enforcement.  The new directorates 
have given the agency a clearer focus and significantly 
improved its success in the fight against counterfeit 
drugs.  NAFDAC staff believe three GON policies have 
also helped: the ban on the importation of drugs and 
other regulated products through land borders; the 
designation of specific ports and airports through 
which drugs and pharmaceutical raw materials can be 
imported; and the requirement that all shipping 
companies and the Nigerian Ports Authority release 
shipping and cargo manifests to the agency's 
inspectors. 
 
7. (U) Comment: No security staff were present when 
Econ staff visited NAFDAC's Lagos office.  Senior 
officials point out that although NAFDAC personnel 
remain committed to reducing the manufacture and 
distribution of counterfeit products, the agency 
remains vulnerable to future attacks.  Like many 
unresolved fires at public offices like the Nigerian 
National Petroleum Corporation and the Lagos High 
Court, the fires at NAFDAC raised suspicions that 
individuals acted to destroy incriminating evidence. 
If so, they obviously succeeded, as critical case 
records and data were lost.  NAFDAC personnel say they 
will continue to try to reduce the manufacture and 
attacks on personnel and facilities and with Dr. 
Akunyili's increased determination, the agency may have 
some success.  End comment. 
 
GREGOIRE