The federal government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cuba in a bid to enhance regulation of activities in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, biological and other related fields.
The amount was signed by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Cuba’s Center for State Control of Medicines and National Devises (CECUED), on Monday in Abuja.
According to the Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, the agreement signifies Nigeria’s commitment to adhering to WHO recommendations on collaboration between regulatory agencies to boost reliance practice.
She noted that the partnership seeks to also promote good regulatory practice and good reliance practice in the pharmaceutical industry and other sectors.
Adeyeye said “We have interacted at the WHO level, at the International Council on Harmonisation level but again, this is the beginning of a great relationship and a renewal of our own history, which will benefit our people.
“Cuba has a high capacity in biotechnology and we can gain a lot from that. Nigeria has very great capacity in regulatory system strengthening, and Cuba can gain a lot from it. So, it is going to be a win-win situation for both agencies of the two countries.
“This is just sealing that relation openly, more so for our medical products or food products or other regulated products. We need more information sharing with Cuba and the Presidential Executive Order that went out about two months ago underscores the importance of Nigeria working with other countries, Cuba in this case and Cuba working with us in terms of trading.
“Cuba has high intellectual competence in biotechnological products, vaccines and biological products and Nigeria will gain a lot from it and of course from NAFDAC perspective we are Maturity Level 3 going to Maturity level 4 and there is a lot that Cuba can also gain from us.”
Similarly, the Cuban Ambassador to Nigeria, Miriam Morales Palmero, pledged her country’s commitment to collaborating with Nigeria in statistical systems, their management and institutions that treat communicable diseases as well as Cuban biotechnological products in human and animal health and agriculture.
“We consider it appropriate to propose the resumption of collaboration in the tissue culture and promote meetings at the expert level with BIOCUBAFARMA and other Cuban institutions.”
