Bureaucratic sabotage: How corruption at NAFDAC endangers national security, By Umar Yakubu

In modern statecraft, health security is national security. Professor Adeyeye’s courageous exposure of these internal bottlenecks must serve as a turning point. She needs all the support and for the country to stand behind her in her quest to bring sanity. Nigeria cannot afford a NAFDAC held hostage by internal saboteurs. Treating NAFDAC as a critical security asset and transforming it into an intelligence driven powerhouse is an urgent national security imperative.

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. – Marcus Aurelius

The recent public outcry by the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, regarding internal operational bottlenecks, has laid bare a dangerous vulnerability in Nigeria’s national security architecture. Beyond simple administrative delays, the systemic inefficiency and deep-seated corruption among public servants within the agency are actively undermining its core mandate. When a regulatory body tasked with safeguarding the food and medicine of over 200 million citizens is frustrated from within, it ceases to be an administrative issue, and has become instead a matter of national survival.

Under the leadership of Mrs Adeyeye, NAFDAC has achieved remarkable milestones, including attaining World Health Organisation (WHO) Maturity Level 3 status and relentlessly pursuing counterfeit medicine syndicates across the country. Her efforts to enforce international best practices and eliminate inherited debts have given the regulatory body global credibility. However, these institutional gains are continuously threatened by internal resistance, procedural sabotage, and entrenched compromise among personnel who resist modernisation.

NAFDAC is supposed to be a frontline national defence mechanism. The integrity of Nigeria’s food supply, the safety of its pharmaceuticals, and the resilience of its healthcare system depend entirely on the agency’s capacity to screen, monitor, and intercept counterfeit goods. Yet, persistent staff compromise, manifested through extortion, rent seeking, and deliberate procedural stalling, turns vital regulatory checkpoints into personal tollgates.

As argued in my book, Shielding the Heartland: Rethinking Nigeria’s Border Security, a nation’s defence apparatus is only as strong as the integrity and intelligence capacity of its border and regulatory gateways. When public institutions tasked with monitoring what enters the country are weakened by internal corruption, our porous physical borders become entirely defenceless. Weak regulatory control at key points of entry directly exposes the homeland to illicit flows, whether of weapons, toxic substances, or fake pharmaceuticals.

Economically, a compromised regulatory agency destroys local enterprise and discourages foreign direct investment. Legitimate manufacturers who spend billions navigating regulatory compliance are forced to compete with illicit networks selling cheap, unvetted alternatives. This destroys domestic manufacturing jobs, strips the government of tax revenue, and diminishes Nigeria’s export credibility within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

When NAFDAC is weakened, the ripple effects spread destruction across every critical sector of the Nigerian society. The most devastating blow is dealt to the public health system, where the proliferation of substandard drugs directly causes treatment failures, rapid surges in organ damage, and thousands of preventable deaths. In sub-Saharan Africa, counterfeit antimalarials alone claim over 260,000 lives annually, with Nigeria bearing a heavy burden of this. Fake antibiotics fuel multi-drug resistance, leaving hospital treatments powerless against common infections.

Economically, a compromised regulatory agency destroys local enterprise and discourages foreign direct investment. Legitimate manufacturers who spend billions navigating regulatory compliance are forced to compete with illicit networks selling cheap, unvetted alternatives. This destroys domestic manufacturing jobs, strips the government of tax revenue, and diminishes Nigeria’s export credibility within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The failure to secure food supply chains exposes millions to hazardous chemicals and unwholesome consumables, worsening national food insecurity. Most critically, the loss of regulatory authority erodes public trust in state institutions altogether, creating fertile ground for organised crime cartels to exploit vulnerable trade routes.

To rescue NAFDAC from internal drag and position it to match modern threats, the Federal Government must implement clear structural reforms. First, the agency requires sustained budgetary independence and direct funding to insulate it from routine civil service cuts. Allocating specialised security funding directly to NAFDAC will allow it to establish modern, high tech testing laboratories at every major port of entry, effectively eliminating its operational reliance on compromised third party logistics.

The deliberate obstruction of regulatory processes and the solicitation of bribes must be reclassified as direct threats to national security, ensuring that compromised personnel face immediate dismissal, asset forfeiture, and swift criminal prosecution to deter entrenched misconduct.

NAFDAC must transition into an intelligence driven security agency by being formally integrated into the broader national security framework. Transforming its enforcement unit into an intelligence-led operation, equipped with advanced data analytics, real-time track and trace technology such as the GS1 barcode systems, and dedicated covert surveillance units, will enable the proactive interdiction of counterfeit supply chains long before dangerous products reach open markets.

Finally, these structural shifts must be paired with decisive sanctions for staff misconduct. The deliberate obstruction of regulatory processes and the solicitation of bribes must be reclassified as direct threats to national security, ensuring that compromised personnel face immediate dismissal, asset forfeiture, and swift criminal prosecution to deter entrenched misconduct.

In modern statecraft, health security is national security. Professor Adeyeye’s courageous exposure of these internal bottlenecks must serve as a turning point. She needs all the support and for the country to stand behind her in her quest to bring sanity. Nigeria cannot afford a NAFDAC held hostage by internal saboteurs. Treating NAFDAC as a critical security asset and transforming it into an intelligence driven powerhouse is an urgent national security imperative.

Umar Yakubu writes from the Center for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity.