Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye,
the Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and
Control (NAFDAC), on Monday said that the agency was considering recruiting
staff to fill up vacant positions in 2020. Adeyeye told Newsmen on Tuesday in
Abuja that the recruitment became necessary because the agency was too
understaffed to effectively perform its statutory duties.
She said that the agency hoped and prayed that
it would get employees in 2020 to drive its mandate of safeguarding the health
of Nigerians. “We need staff; we also need vehicles, and not too long ago, we
got approval for 15 vehicles; but that is a drop in the bucket because we have
36 states.
“For instance, we cannot say we are giving one
vehicle to Abia State. “What will one vehicle do when you are pursuing people
that want to kill Nigerians with bad medicine; so we are praying, hoping and
planning to buy more in 2020,” she said. The NAFDAC boss explained that some of
the vehicles purchased were from the Agency’s savings, adding that the agency
was fiscally responsible, and was saving money to buy what it needed to curtail
wasteful spending. “That is what budgeting means, denying yourself a little
comfort so that you will be able to buy the essentials, and that is what we are
doing and the Federal Government has given the approval. “Apart from members of
staff and vehicles, we need equipment. You do not use litmus paper to test
drugs or food. “No! We need sophisticated equipment and one particular
equipment is about N200 million, just one piece of equipment,” Adeyeye said.
Source: Vanguard News Nigeria