The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has challenged any contractor who claims she demanded money from them as a bribe to come forward publicly and make the allegation.
Adeyeye made the challenge on Monday during an engagement with journalists, while responding to questions surrounding calls for her resignation and criticism of her leadership of the regulatory agency. She maintained that she returned to Nigeria after decades in the United States primarily to serve the country and help restore NAFDAC’s reputation.
The NAFDAC boss said she spent about 34 to 37 years in the United States, including roughly three decades as a professor, before retiring and returning to Nigeria. According to her, she had a comfortable life abroad but chose to come back because she wanted to contribute to Nigeria’s development.
“Any contractor that I have demanded money from should come here and tell me! I came here for service. I retired happily,” Adeyeye said.
She criticised what she described as a culture of seeking personal gain in public service, saying the mindset of “what can I get?” and “what is in it for my pocket?” had contributed to some of Nigeria’s problems. Adeyeye said she was motivated by service rather than personal enrichment.
The NAFDAC director-general also highlighted what she described as the difficult financial and operational condition of the agency when she assumed office in 2017. She said NAFDAC inherited liabilities of about N3.2 billion, including unpaid taxes, money owed to staff and outstanding payments to contractors. She said approximately N3.1 billion of the liabilities had been cleared by November 2018.
Adeyeye further recalled that between 70 and 80 per cent of NAFDAC’s laboratory equipment was not functioning when she took over, while the agency’s information and communications technology infrastructure was also in poor condition. She said these challenges formed part of the issues she set out to address after assuming leadership.
According to her, the agency subsequently recorded improvements in its regulatory capacity, moving from maturity level one to maturity level three in 2022, which she described as a major milestone for NAFDAC and Nigeria’s regulatory system. She also cited the agency’s growing recognition and participation in international regulatory organisations.
Responding to the continued calls for her resignation, Adeyeye questioned the motivation behind such demands, insisting that her record should be judged by the reforms and improvements recorded under her leadership.
She said she had returned to Nigeria because she was concerned about the country’s international image and wanted to contribute to changing the perception of its institutions.
“I was ashamed of my country. I came to remove some of the shame. And the world is seeing it,” she said, stressing that her decision to serve at NAFDAC was driven by patriotism rather than the pursuit of financial benefits.
Adeyeye’s latest comments come years after she publicly alleged that some members of the House of Representatives had demanded money from NAFDAC during an oversight visit in 2017, an allegation that was subsequently disputed by the lawmakers involved.
The NAFDAC chief, however, has now turned the challenge toward anyone alleging that she personally demanded money from contractors, asking such individuals to come forward with their claims publicly.