My regrets as NAFDAC DG –Akunyili

The former Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Dora Akunyili, on Tuesday named her inability to establish a Drug Mart as one of her greatest regrets.

Akunyili, who shot into limelight for revolutionising the fight against fake drugs, also blamed fake and counterfeit drugs in the country on lack of alternative to the chaotic and unregulated drug markets.

She said she had nursed the idea of a drug mart right from when she became a NAFDC DG but was unable to realise the dream.

The former Minister for Information, who spoke at the inauguration of the state Drug Mart in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, poured encomiums on the Governor of the state, Mr. Seriake Dickson, for the initiative.

She said the idea of establishing the mart was approved by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

She explained that she conceived the idea of constructing the drug centres in the six geopolitical zones in the country.

By the plan, she said, the South-South zone of the centre was supposed to be headquartered in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Akunyili said, “I have nursed the idea of the Drug Mart for many years right from when I was the Director-General of NAFDAC, but my inability to bring it to fruition before now remained one of my greatest regrets.

“Today I feel fulfilled that the pragmatic Governor of Bayelsa State has bought the idea and decided to partner with my NGO, Dora Akunyili Foundation, to actualise the dream of putting in place a drug mart or drug distribution centre in Bayelsa State.

“It took about a decade for this lofty dream to be actualised, courtesy of the countryman governor of Bayelsa State, the quitesssantial leader par excellence.”