The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, revealed on Friday that she inherited a significant debt of N3.2 billion upon taking charge of the agency in 2017.
She also disclosed that an additional N500 million was unaccounted for.
During an interview on Channels Television’s program ‘Inside Sources’, Adeyeye expressed that if such financial discrepancies had occurred in a developed country like the United States, the agency would have been “declared bankrupt,” and a financial institution would have taken over the management of its finances.
Reflecting on the situation she encountered, Adeyeye said, “When I got to NAFDAC, I met N3.2b debt, and N500m missing and there was no account for it before I came. I asked them if they had capital projects they used the money for. Bear in mind that at that time, N1 million was equivalent to $2,000. So multiply $2,000 by N500m. I was coming from the US where money was hard to get. You worked hard for your money. I could have given up but I saw an opportunity and I seized it.”
She added that, “It was tough because if that had happened in the US, NAFDAC would have been declared bankrupt, and a financial house would have taken over the management of our finances. But I didn’t have money to hire a financial house.”
Adeyeye highlighted that Nigeria is a nation blessed with abundant resources that can drive development.
She also recounted how she managed to cut down on the agency’s excessive expenses, specifically by implementing technological solutions like Zoom to reduce travel costs.
She stated, “My point is that we have enough endowment in this country to make things better, and I am using NAFDAC as an example. I said I was going to cut to the bone. I am going to be using technology to ensure that our system moves on.”
Adeyeye concluded by mentioning, “We started Zoom meetings in 2018. Many people didn’t like because it they were used to getting travel allowances and DTAs. But we had to save.”
