The Senate on Tuesday took a major step towards tightening Nigeria’s food and drug regulatory system as it passed for second reading a bill seeking to repeal two obsolete laws and replace them with a comprehensive legal framework to tackle counterfeit medicines, unsafe food products and emerging healthcare challenges. The proposed legislation, sponsored by Senator Suleiman Umar Sadiq (APC, Kwara North), aims to align Nigeria’s regulatory system with global best practices by covering food, medicines, vaccines, medical devices, animal feeds, packaged water, chemicals, tobacco products and other items capable of affecting public health. Senator Sadiq said the existing laws have become outdated and are no longer adequate to regulate modern innovations such as biotechnology, artificial intelligence-assisted diagnostics, online pharmaceutical commerce and increasingly sophisticated manufacturing and supply chains.
The bill also introduces stricter measures including mandatory pre-market evaluation, post-market surveillance, product traceability, safety monitoring and compulsory recalls of unsafe products, while providing a legal framework for clinical trials and internationally recognised quality standards. Lawmakers across party lines described the bill as timely, saying it would strengthen consumer protection, improve healthcare delivery and boost Nigeria’s pharmaceutical exports. During the debate, Senator Garba Maidoki called for greater recognition of traditional medicine in the proposed law, drawing laughter in the chamber with his humorous remarks on traditional healers. Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who presided over the session, commended the initiative as a significant step towards safeguarding public health before referring the bill to the Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary) for further legislative work and a report within four weeks.
