|
Introduction More than 250 ethnic groups make up Nigeria’s population of 140 million people. Religious and political differences have made progress difficult. After gaining independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria experienced many years of civil conflict and political upheaval. Corruption and mismanagement meant the profits of the 1970s oil boom were lost, poverty is widespread and debt crippling. In 1999, after nearly 16 years of military rule, a new constitution was adopted and there was a peaceful transition to civilian government. The government is slowly implementing economic reforms and has embarked on a serious fight against official corruption and human rights abuses.
Corruption in the pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria
Corruption has long been rampant in the pharmaceutical industry, with Nigeria a ‘dumping ground’ for substandard, counterfeit and past-expiry-date drugs. The counterfeiting problem can be traced to the Nigerian Government’s decision to award licenses to import drugs during a time of scarcity in the 1980s. As licenses were awarded mainly on the basis of political patronage, many people who had no business with drugs and pharmaceuticals obtained licenses and became importers. Meanwhile, pharmacists, genuine manufacturers and importers were denied access to foreign exchange or forced to repurchase import licenses from those whose ‘factories’ were located in their briefcases. The country’s markets were flooded with all sorts of fake, counterfeit and substandard products. In 2001 it was estimated by the World Health Organization, that more than half of all drugs in Nigeria were counterfeits or substandard. Some were simply chalk or flour pressed into tablets and packaged to look like the real thing. Others had only a fraction of the active ingredient, triggering drug resistant strains of the world’s biggest killers, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.
Confronting corruption
The counterfeiting and dumping of drugs have their greatest impact on society’s most vulnerable: the poor and the sick. Dr Dora Akunyili, a pharmacologist, saw her diabetic sister die after using what she believes were fake insulin and fake antibiotics. In 2001, Dr Akunyili became director of Nigeria’s National Agency of Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), a notoriously corrupt department. She immediately tackled the problem of corruption by confiscating and publicly destroying up to US$16 million worth of counterfeit medicines. She closed down the vast open-air medicine market in the northern city of Kano, set up a new team of mostly female drug inspectors, and began to prosecute importers of counterfeit drugs. Another initiative was a telephone hotline for the public to report corruption.
Dr Dora Akunyili was recognised for her work in fighting corruption with an Integrity Award from Transparency International.
Photo: Used with permission from Transparency International
Dr Akunyili received death threats and her car was fired on, with a bullet grazing her head. The NAFDAC’s offices were burnt down. Nevertheless, Dr Akunyili’s determination succeeded in restoring the credibility of the NAFDAC, which was a great morale booster for Nigerians. A study in 2004 showed an 80 per cent reduction in the level of counterfeit drugs in the country.
In 2003 Dr Akunyili was one of the winners of Transparency International’s global Integrity Awards, which are presented to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to fighting corruption in their country.
This is one example of the activities being undertaken to address corruption in Nigeria. Fighting corruption is a long, slow process, but there has been a slight improvement in Nigeria’s ranking on Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The index ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among its public officials and politicians. Nigeria’s score rose from1.6 in 2004 to 1.9 in 2005.
Going further
See video clips of Dr Akunyili and other past winners of Integrity Awards at: http://www.transparency.org/integrityawards/winners/winners_2003.html#dora
| 
Print View
