The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has been honoured with a prestigious Special African Leadership Commendation Award at the House of Lords, London, for transforming Nigeria’s drug regulatory agency from a struggling institution into one of Africa’s most respected regulators.
Adeyeye received the award at the 16th African Business Leadership Awards (ABLA) held at the historic Palace of Westminster, where African leaders, ministers, parliamentarians and business executives gathered to celebrate outstanding leadership across the continent.
The organisers said the award followed years of independent assessment of her leadership and the sweeping reforms she has introduced since taking over NAFDAC in November 2017.
When she assumed office, the agency was weighed down by over ₦3.2 billion debt, obsolete laboratory equipment, poor staff morale, lack of digital infrastructure and a regulatory system rated below the World Health Organisation (WHO) Maturity Level One benchmark.
Less than a decade later, NAFDAC has emerged as one of Africa’s leading medicines regulatory agencies.
Under her watch, the agency cleared over ₦3.1 billion in inherited debts within one year, uncovered ₦200 million in fictitious liabilities, purchased more than 150 operational vehicles, invested over ₦7 billion in modern laboratory equipment and digitised about 90 per cent of its operations.
NAFDAC also secured ISO 9001 certification, attained WHO Global Benchmarking Maturity Level Three in 2022 and successfully retained the status in 2025—an achievement shared by only about 35 per cent of medicines regulatory authorities worldwide.
The agency’s Central Drug Laboratory in Lagos also earned WHO Prequalification, while Nigeria became the 24th member of the International Council for Harmonisation (ICH), further boosting the country’s global pharmaceutical standing.
Adeyeye’s reforms also reduced the importation of medicines already produced locally by about 70 per cent, encouraging foreign pharmaceutical firms to resume investments in Nigeria.
Receiving the award, the NAFDAC boss dedicated the honour to the agency’s workforce.
“I accept this honour not for myself alone but on behalf of the dedicated men and women of NAFDAC whose commitment has made these achievements possible. This recognition belongs to every member of the NAFDAC family,” she said.
She noted that NAFDAC is now working towards attaining WHO Maturity Level Four and World Listed Authority status, a milestone expected to position Nigeria as a major exporter of pharmaceutical products.
The two-day event also featured a keynote lecture by Adeyeye, where she urged African universities to embrace innovation, digitisation and globally competitive curricula to meet future healthcare and regulatory needs.
