By Abdullahi Hamza
It was a day of pride for Nigerians living in the Diaspora when one of their own, the very amiable and high-achieving Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, was being honoured by the international publication, African Leadership magazine, as the recipient of its 2013 Regulator of the Year Award. This will mark the third time Orhii will be receiving an award from this body, infusing the Nigerian community in the United Kingdom with a sense of pride that Nigeria is not all together short of men and women of vision who are working tirelessly to ensure that the transformation agenda of the Goodluck Jonathan administration becomes a success. Also honoured was Director-General of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Mrs. Dupe Atoke.
One after the other, Nigerian professionals who converged at the Lemeridian Picaddilly Hotel in London took turns to commend Orhii for his feat in making Nigeria a safer place for its citizens through his innovative approaches to combat fake drugs, a phenomenon that threatens the healthcare system in the country. Orhii is being celebrated as Mr. Cutting-edge Technology for his initiative at NAFDAC to address once and for all the menace of fake drugs which has over the years defied solution as counterfeiters employ clever ways to evade detection by NAFDAC. Orhii’s success in this direction has seen the incidence of fake drugs dropping from 16.7% in 2005 to 6.4% in 2012. This figure is set to reduce further as Orhii vowed that his target is to achieve zero-tolerance for counterfeit drugs, in line with the mandate handed down to the agency by the federal government.
The structures Orhii has put on ground at NAFDAC support the feasibility of this target being achieved soon. Apart from introducing cutting-edge technologies that has put the agency ahead in its fight against counterfeiters; Orhii is working in NAFDAC to ensure that for the first time in its history, Nigeria finally achieves self-sufficiency in the production of essential medicines. Indeed, three Nigerian pharmaceutical companies have very high prospects of being granted the WHO pre-qualification for some essential medicines. These three companies will be joining two other companies (Swipha and Drugfield) that have made giant strides in this regard. The WHO pre-qualification means Nigerian drugs are not only safe for local consumption but will also be available for export in the international market, helping to save Nigeria needed foreign currency, creating jobs and most importantly reducing the country’s dependence on imports, which have been proven to be the major sources of counterfeits entering its shores.
The African Leadership magazine award is coming behind a long trail of awards that have been conferred on the DG since he assumed the helm at NAFDAC in 2009. In fact, shortly after assuming office in NAFDAC, the agency was recognized with the National Productivity Award by the federal government for its success in achieving its mandate. This award is just a spur that will give birth to several other awards from countries as far flung as the United State as Orhii’s leadership of NAFDAC and success in the introduction of the use of cutting-edge technologies to fight the menace of fake drugs made him the darling and toast of the international community. Over fifty awards have been conferred on Orhii since then.
Shortly after the National Productivity Award in 2009, the African Public Health & Safety Award was conferred on him by African Leadership Magazine. This was followed by the Blue Ribbon Award by Joint Technical Committee – UNICEF in 2009. The Kwame Nkrumah Leadership Award as Best Regulatory Administrator in Nigeria by All African Students Union (AASU) will also follow the same year.
The following year, 2010, The Tribune Newspaper bestowed on him the Exemplary Leadership Award. The Sun Newspaper Award for Excellence, 2010 followed suit, to be followed by a Prestigious Merit Award by West African Students Union Parliament, 2010. Other awards that year were the Nigeria Arise Merit Award by Ben Television, UK and the 2010 PharmaVOICE 100 Most Inspiring Personalities in the Life Sciences Industry. In 2011, Orhii was awarded the Merit Leadership Award by Youths for Human Rights International, New York, USA.
Awards in the United States trickled in as news of Orhii’s success precedes him, leading to several international invitations where he was invited no less than four times by such bodies as the Council for Foreign Relations, where he was invited to speak on NAFDAC’s success in the use of cutting-edge technologies. In the US, Orhii will later be conferred with the US Special Congressional Recognition Award, 2013, followed by an award of the Key to the City of District Heights, Maryland/honourary citizen of the state, 2013.
Orhii will go on to prove that prophets are also recognized at home when he was conferred with the top of the class and prestigious National Honour of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), an award conferred on him by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The award by the president followed closely on the heels of another recent award in the US, the US Special Congressional Recognition Award by the National Association for Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).
In acknowledgement of his global leadership in the fight against drug counterfeiting, Dr. Orhii was appointed the pioneer Chair of the 193 Member State Mechanism (MSM) on Spurious, Substandard, Falsified, Falsely-Labelled and Counterfeit (SSFFC) medical products established by the World Health Organization (WHO) to fight drug counterfeiting and widen access of citizens to safe, good quality and efficacious medicines. He successfully served his tenure and handed over to his Argentine counterpart in May, 2014.
In January 2014, Dr. Orhii was reappointed for a second term in office as the Director General of NAFDAC by President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR in recognition of his revolutionary leadership that has given an added impetus to the transformation agenda of Mr. President.
I took time to document Orhii’s records so that we all can recognize that good things are happening in NAFDAC. In addition, this is to draw the attention of the ignorant mischief makers who are bent on feeding misinformation to the public about the successes of Orhii in NAFDAC that honour cannot be denied to whom it is due. Good work will always be recognized. Orhii’s successes should serve as an encouragement to Nigerian public holders to keep on doing their best, as there are people who will value their contributions.
Hamza wrote from Abuja
