The Senate on Tuesday advanced a sweeping legislative proposal to strengthen the regulatory powers of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), as lawmakers seek to modernise Nigeria’s legal framework for regulating food, medicines, medical devices and other products with implications for public health.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Suleiman Sadiq, scaled second reading and proposes the repeal of the Food, Drug and Related Products (Registration, Etc.) Act and the Food and Drug Act, replacing both laws with a unified and more comprehensive legal regime tailored to emerging healthcare technologies and evolving global regulatory standards.
Leading the debate, Sadiq said Nigeria’s existing food and drug laws, enacted decades ago, are no longer adequate to regulate today’s rapidly changing healthcare landscape marked by biotechnology, artificial intelligence-driven diagnostics, online pharmaceutical commerce and increasingly complex international supply chains.
He argued that the proposed legislation would bridge existing regulatory gaps by equipping NAFDAC with stronger legal authority to oversee products throughout their lifecycle, from pre-market evaluation to post-market surveillance.
“The health of a nation is one of the greatest measures of its development. Every government owes its citizens the fundamental responsibility of ensuring that the food they consume is safe, the medicines they rely upon are genuine and effective, and that medical devices used in healthcare are fit for purpose,” Sadiq said.
Beyond existing categories such as food, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices, the bill significantly broadens the range of products under NAFDAC’s oversight to include processed and packaged foods, processed animal feeds, vaccines, active pharmaceutical ingredients, in vitro diagnostic devices, tobacco products, chemicals, packaged water, home-care products and other goods capable of affecting public health.
The legislation also introduces more robust regulatory mechanisms, including mandatory product evaluation before registration, continuous post-market safety monitoring, supply-chain traceability, compulsory product recalls and enhanced inspection procedures aimed at improving consumer protection.
A major innovation in the bill is the establishment of a comprehensive legal framework for regulating clinical trials, performance evaluations and other human intervention studies. It also seeks to institutionalise internationally recognised quality assurance standards, including Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Distribution Practices (GDP), Good Storage Practices (GSP), Good Clinical Practices (GCP) and Good Laboratory Practices (GLP).
To strengthen enforcement, the proposal grants NAFDAC clearer statutory authority to conduct inspections, investigations, product sampling, detention and seizure where necessary, while incorporating safeguards to ensure due process and regulatory accountability.
Supporting the bill, Senator Lola Ashiru described it as a timely response to rapid technological advancements in healthcare, noting that innovations such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology require a stronger regulatory framework.
He stressed that maintaining proper storage and distribution standards is just as critical as ensuring quality manufacturing, warning that poor handling can render otherwise safe products ineffective or dangerous.
Senator Diket Plang also endorsed the legislation, arguing that food security must go hand in hand with food safety.
“We will have the food but we must also know how our food is harvested, processed and stored,” he said, adding that poor storage practices pose serious risks to public health.
However, Senator Garba Maidoki urged lawmakers to widen the scope of the bill to include traditional and herbal medicines, noting that millions of Nigerians, particularly in rural communities, rely on indigenous remedies for healthcare.
“We haven’t seen anything in this bill concerning traditional medicine. Most of our people in the rural areas rely on these traditional medicines, so we have to have a law that regulates these medicines,” he said.
According to him, the growing acceptance of herbal medicines, including among government officials, underscores the need for clear quality, safety and efficacy standards for the sector.
Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin commended Senator Sadiq for leveraging his professional background as a pharmacist to champion legislation that would strengthen Nigeria’s medicines regulatory system.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio also praised the proposal, describing it as a significant step towards enhancing public health protection, improving consumer confidence and aligning Nigeria’s regulatory architecture with global best practices.
Following its second reading, the bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Health (Secondary and Tertiary) for detailed legislative scrutiny, with the panel directed to submit its report within four weeks.