By Moses George, FCIM
His appointment as Director General of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on the I3th of January, 2009, was generally acknowledged as a great leap for the agency. This acknowledgment was born out of the confidence in his ability to make the agency efficient .
Paul Botwev Orhi, is an internationally celebrated Nigerian born medical expert and legal luminary who had most of his academic and professional attainments outside Nigeria.
Since his assumption of office as Director General, Dr Orhi has left no one in doubt that he has what it takes to make NAFDAC more efficient in the discharge of its primary responsibilities. So far, NAFDAC has lived up to the expectations of Nigerians by consistently maintaining its global leadership role. Indeed, the agency has been classed among topmost medicine regulatory agencies worldwide
The DG’s exceptional leadership qualities has translated into concrete achievements that is being felt both in Nigeria and abroad, as counterfeited pharmaceutical products as well as other regulated products of the agency worth several billions of naira are being intercepted annually and destroyed all over the country by the agency. This has certainly helped to stem the tide of fake drugs in the country.
At NAFDAC, Dr Orhi’s efforts is paying off as the agency is better equipped with high class Infrastructures and highly trained personnel to man Nigeria’s gateway laboratories and other operational ultra-modern facilities and infrastructures of the agency. These efforts has yielded high dividends, going by series of interceptions and operational excellence being recorded regularly by the agency.
Remarkably, Dr Orhi has been able to provide various technological innovations like the Truscan test machines, mobile authentication service (i.e. GSM text message), the black eye machine test, usage of mini-laboratories for the purpose of achieving speedy evaluation of medicines, clearance, etc.
The Mass Authentication Service (MAS) Truscan technology enables consumers to enter twelve digit numbers and send same to a dedicated number via sms that equally responds via same sms. Nigeria is the first country to deploy this technology strictly for the detection of fake or counterfeit drugs. This device was hitherto used in the US by pharmaceutical companies to verify the quality of their active ingredients.
Dr. Paul Botwev Orhii’s achievements has attracted acknowledgments in the form of awards from home and abroad for his uncommon courage in the war against fake drugs.
His recent election as the Vice Chairman of the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Task-Force (IMPACT) is an eloquent testimony of t his leadership role in the global fight against drug counterfeiting.
