Dr. Dora Akunyili: Tribute to a Woman Warrior

Before the advent of award-wining, fifty-three year-old Dr. Dora Nkem Akunyili, Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and control (NAFDAC), most Nigerians did not know that a body vested with the responsibility of ensuring standard drugs and food existed, but now the campaign has reached a crescendo worldwide.

On Thursday, N6.5 billion worth of substandard drugs from over 3000 drug shops, were destroyed in Onitsha. The drug market was closed on March 6. In place, Onitsha Bridge Head Drug Market was constituted with a warning not to indulge in selling fake drugs.

The closure of the Onitsha drug market is a long overdue but welcome step. To think that those slimballs have fed on the blood of many is terribly inexplicable rationally and further highlights a worrying social rot. For years they got away bribing corrupt authorities in Nigeria, who shared the same passion for money above life, but now the death knell tolls on their activities. Attempt has been made on Professor Akunyili’s life but she escaped.

The story of Akunyili of Nanka, Anambra State is a story of unrelenting gusto in the face of dare-devils without any care for life and the stench of corruption that allowed the growth of fake drugs . The story of Nigeria cannot be written without mention of her name. Her story evinces an unusual fortitude in the face of life-threatening realities around the path to sanitizing the country from a multi-billion monstrous drug monolith that has caused the death of many including Vivian, Akunyili’s sister.

Since she left her role as a Senior lecturer and Consultant Pharmacologist in Medicine ,University of Nigeria Nsukka (U.N.N.), Enugu Campus, she has led a trail of success in fighting the menace of substandard food and drugs.

Before Akunyili took over her post in 2001, 80% of drugs in circulation were substandard: some were outright poison; powdered chalk; some expired.

Nigeria gained a reputation for being a country where harmful drugs were sold and used without scrutiny. Merchants of death plied their wares with shameless abandon; rejected drugs found a ready market in Nigeria. Tales of corroboration with authorities abounded – it was pathetic. Nigerians have been known from South Africa to Thailand for being involved in illicit drug peddling. I remember being told by a smiling chunky dud in Nigeria: ‘I like to be involved in drug trading.’ People turned their eyes as these death sellers indulged in their nefarious activities.

In 1990 more than 100 Nigerian children died from a painkiller that had been made with a toxic substance.

There are people who want Nigeria to remain backward and a land of anything-goes, so they can profit. Nigeria without regulations sweetens their gory appetites but this time around they have had it in their faces. At the heart of this crusade is a tireless woman who braved a society greatly prejudiced against females. Even Obasanjo confessed to narrowly missing her. She is a shadow of merit in the right position. She vindicates my position that authority must be held by the qualified – there’s no apology for being good that is why the English league travels around the world to get players, despite homegrown football players. Merit must outpace sectionalism in every form.

Dora is a beautiful advertisement for the Nigerian woman long held down by societal misconceptions. Nigeria women occupy a very strategic position in the Nigerian society. It is not unusual to find women almost single-handedly feeding, clothing etc their families – in the traditional Nigerian family, divorce is rare, so efforts are put in to ensure the success of marriage against all odds, often times with the woman at the receiving end.

Since her emergence on the national stage there has been a lot of debate about the place of women in Nigeria.

Olakunle Fredrick Sorinmade, the Lagos West senatorial candidate of the Citizens Popular Party (CPP) has cashed in on Akunyili’s rising profile in his proposal to create laws strengthening women (Daily Champion,2007).

Professor Akunyili stands tall. She may have foibles, but no matter how it is cut, she shows that Nigerians can have a will to dismantle the various evil structures in place if they desire. She has strenuously fought her corner. Hardly a week goes by – anytime I read the news – without mention of progress towards stemming the tide of illicit drug related activities made. Recently 800 cartons of banned vegetable oil valued at N10 million were impounded by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (Daily Champion). Whenever I think about her I see the picture of lost Nigeria; a Nigeria that can be found.

In recognition of her service, the European Parliament has invited her as a guest speaker to the forth-coming Public Hearing on Counterfeiting Medicine on April 10, 2007, where she is expected to pour insights into the global fight against drug counterfeiting.

Prof.Akunyili was born in Makurdi, Benue state on the 14th of July 1954 to Chief & Mrs. Paul Young Edemobi.A devout catholic, mother of six children – having a grand child - married to Dr.J.C. Akunyili a Medical Practitioner, she has more than 20 awards under her belt .

She got her B.Pharm (Hons) in 1978 and P.hD in 1985 from the University of Nigeria Nssuka (UNN).

On resuming office she restricted pharmaceutical imports to two airports and two seaports, each staffed by NAFDAC officials and blacklisted foreign companies thought to be involved in manufacturing fake drugs.

"It is in Onitsha that all the fake drug dealers in all Nigerian markets are trained. They move from Onitsha to other markets. They distribute from Onitsha to other places. They have so much money. It is by the grace of God that anybody can resist their money. They often claim that they are millionaires in all currencies (ThisDay, 2007)." She said.

The war against substandard food and drugs is just a tissue in the morass of decadent activities plaguing Nigeria.

According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC), Nigerian fraudsters raked in N70 billion from advance fee fraud (419) in the past 10 years.

The Federal Government recently released N1.2 billion to the newly-created Directorate for Cyber security (DFC) to respond to security issues on the internet.

References

Lemonick.D.M and Costa D.G.(2005).Drug Warrior (Times magazine)
www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1124289,00.html

nafdacnigeria.org