The Senate has commenced consideration of a bill that would expand the powers of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), giving it broader authority over product inspections, clinical trials, product recalls, post-market surveillance and the regulation of emerging health technologies.

Sponsored by Suleiman Sadiq, the proposed legislation which scaled second reading in plenary yesterday seeks to repeal the Food, Drug and Related Products (Registration, Etc.) Act and the Food and Drug Act, replacing them with a single, comprehensive law to govern the regulation of food, medical products and other regulated products in the country.

Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, Sadiq said the existing laws were enacted decades ago and no longer reflect the realities of modern healthcare, pharmaceutical manufacturing and international trade.

According to him, advances in biotechnology, artificial intelligence-assisted diagnostics, in vitro diagnostic technologies, online pharmaceutical commerce and increasingly complex global supply chains have exposed gaps in the country’s current regulatory framework.

He said the proposed legislation would establish a comprehensive statutory regime for all products regulated by NAFDAC, harmonising existing provisions, removing obsolete sections and modernising the agency’s legal framework to respond to present and emerging regulatory challenges.

“The health of a nation is one of the greatest measures of its development. Every government owes its citizens the fundamental responsibility of ensuring that the food they consume is safe, the medicines they rely upon are genuine and effective, and that medical devices used in healthcare are fit for purpose,” he said.

The lawmaker explained that, unlike the current laws which focus mainly on food, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices, the new bill adopts a broader definition of regulated products.

These include processed and packaged foods, processed animal feeds, medical products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, medical devices, in vitro diagnostic devices, vaccines, tobacco products, chemicals, packaged water, home care products and other products capable of affecting public health.

He added that the bill introduces comprehensive provisions covering product evaluation before registration, post-marketing surveillance, continuous safety monitoring throughout a product’s lifecycle, supply chain traceability and mandatory product recalls where public safety requires immediate regulatory intervention.

According to Sadiq, the legislation also provides, for the first time, a detailed statutory framework governing clinical trials, performance evaluations and human intervention studies.

He said the bill institutionalises internationally recognised regulatory standards, including Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Distribution Practices (GDP), Good Storage Practices (GSP), Good Clinical Practices (GCP) and Good Laboratory Practices (GLP), alongside other quality assurance systems prescribed by NAFDAC.

The senator further noted that the proposed law strengthens NAFDAC’s enforcement powers by granting clearer statutory authority for inspections, investigations, sampling, detention, seizure and other enforcement actions, while ensuring due process and accountability.

Contributing to the debate, Lola Ashiru said the bill is timely because it responds to emerging developments in healthcare and product regulation.

He noted that issues such as biotechnology, artificial intelligence-assisted diagnostics and other modern technologies, as well as product distribution and storage, have become critical to ensuring the safety of regulated products.

According to him, proper distribution and storage are as important as production because they determine whether products remain safe for public consumption.

Also supporting the bill, Diket Plang stressed that food safety goes beyond availability. He said, “We will have the food but we must also know how our food is harvested, processed and stored”, adding that poor storage conditions directly affect the quality of food and, ultimately, public health.

On his part, Garba Maidoki urged the Senate to ensure the legislation accommodates the regulation of traditional medicine, noting that millions of Nigerians, particularly in rural communities, depend on herbal remedies for healthcare.

“We haven’t seen anything in this bill concerning traditional medicine. Most of our people in the rural areas rely on these traditional medicines, so we have to have a law that regulates these medicines,” he said.

He added that even some senators patronise herbal medicines for various ailments because they have proved effective, underscoring the need to regulate the sector to guarantee safety and quality.

Also contributing to the debate, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin commended Senator Sadiq for leveraging his professional background as a pharmacist to sponsor legislation aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s medicines regulatory framework.

Similarly, Senate President Godswill Akpabio also praised the sponsor and members of the relevant committee for the initiative, describing the bill as important to public health. Following the debate, the Senate referred the bill to the Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary) for further legislative work and directed it to report back within four weeks. (The Sun)

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