The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said that the modernization of its regulatory system is critical to fulfilling its mandate of safeguarding public health.
The Director-General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, stated this on Wednesday at a media parley in Lagos, where she highlighted NAFDAC’s achievements in 2025 and outlined its plans for 2026.
Adeyeye explained that the modernization drive was both strategic and imperative to ensure that the agency’s systems remain credible, efficient, transparent and fit for purpose.
According to her, the initiative is also aimed at protecting public health and supporting access to quality, safe and effective regulated products.
The NAFDAC boss said the roadmap for modernizing the agency’s regulatory system began in 2018 with the adoption of international standards and best practices anchored on a robust quality management system and a strong legal framework for all regulatory activities.
She noted that the modernization effort is built on five strategic pillars: strong leadership and governance; institutionalization of best practices; safety and quality of regulated products; continuous monitoring along the supply chain; and efficient financial and performance management.
“The roadmap to the modernization of the agency’s regulatory system was steep and challenging, but these obstacles did not deter us from our goal of safeguarding the nation’s health.
“The foundation was laid with a resolve to start from the basics by establishing a quality management system and legal framework for all regulatory activities, alongside the continuous evolution of regulatory practices,” she said.
Adeyeye added that the establishment and implementation of an agency-wide quality management system had enhanced fairness, consistency and preparedness in regulatory decision-making.
She said the initiative also played a key role in NAFDAC’s attainment of ISO 9001 certification in 2019.
According to her, the institutionalization of good regulatory practices, supported by a strong legal framework, has promoted transparency, accountability, consistency, stakeholder engagement and evidence-based decision-making.
Adeyeye disclosed that NAFDAC had gazetted more than 28 product regulations, providing a robust legal and operational framework that ensures clarity, predictability and fairness in regulatory oversight.
She further noted that the modernization of the agency’s regulatory system has significantly influenced food safety practices and processes over the past eight years.
She explained that the system ensures food safety measures are entrenched long before products reach consumers, through effective feed quality and crop protection practices.
One of the agency’s major achievements in food safety, she said, was the decentralization of the food registration process in 2018, which facilitated the timely registration of the increasing number of locally produced and processed food products.
“Food safety remains one of the most critical public health, economic and development priorities for any country.
“Over the years, the scope, complexity and volume of regulated food products have expanded significantly due to rapid advancements in food technology, globalization of trade and increasing digitization of regulatory processes,” she said.
Adeyeye added that these developments had necessitated a shift from traditional regulatory models to modern, technology-driven and risk-based systems that benefit micro-scale and small-scale food industries, which previously faced challenges with product registration.
She reaffirmed NAFDAC’s commitment to continuous improvement anchored on sustainability, innovation and public health protection.
According to her, the agency will continue to deepen and expand regulatory reliance pathways and ensure full digitization of its processes through the implementation of the Integrated Regulatory Information Management System (IRIMS), among other initiatives.
