House of Lords Honours Adeyeye for Transforming NAFDAC into Global Regulatory Model

"I accept this honour not for myself alone, but on behalf of the dedicated men and women of NAFDAC whose tireless work makes every achievement attributed to my leadership possible." Adeyeye, Director General, NAFDAC 

.... Says "the agency had risen from below the first rung of the WHO Global Benchmarking ladder in 2017 to Maturity Level 3, a distinction held by only 35 per cent of regulatory agencies worldwide."

The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye, has received the Special African Leadership Commendation Award at the 16th African Business Leadership Awards (ABLA).

The epoch making event which was held at the historic House of Lords, is in recognition of her sweeping reforms that transformed Nigeria's medicines regulatory agency into one of Africa's most respected institutions.

The award was presented on July 3, 2026, during the two-day African Business Leadership Awards organised by the African Leadership Organisation. It followed what organisers described as a rigorous, merit-based assessment of Adeyeye's leadership and institutional impact over several years.

Adeyeye, who assumed office on November 30, 2017, inherited an agency weighed down by more than ₦3.2 billion in debt, obsolete laboratory equipment, poor staff welfare, limited operational vehicles and virtually no digital infrastructure. At the time, NAFDAC ranked below WHO Global Benchmarking Maturity Level 1, with one international observer reportedly describing it as a "good-for-nothing agency."

Within her first year, she cleared over ₦3.1 billion of the inherited debt after uncovering ₦200 million in fictitious liabilities. Under her leadership, NAFDAC acquired more than 150 utility vehicles, invested over ₦7 billion in modern laboratory equipment, equipped more than half of its over 2,000 employees with computers and digitised 90 per cent of its regulatory processes.

The agency also secured ISO 9001 certification in 2019 and has maintained it through successive recertifications.

The reforms earned NAFDAC global recognition, including attaining WHO Global Benchmarking Maturity Level 3 in March 2022 and a successful re-benchmarking in June 2025. Its Central Drug Laboratory in Lagos achieved WHO Prequalification in September 2023, while Nigeria also secured Pre-Accession Pre-Applicant status in the Pharmaceutical Inspection and Cooperation Scheme (PIC/S) and became the 24th member of the International Council for Harmonization (ICH) in 2025.

The agency said its Five Plus Five regulatory directive has reduced the importation of medicines already produced locally by 70 per cent, boosting domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing and attracting renewed investments from multinational drug companies.

Speaking after receiving the award, Adeyeye dedicated the honour to NAFDAC staff.

"I accept this honour not for myself alone, but on behalf of the dedicated men and women of NAFDAC whose tireless work makes every achievement attributed to my leadership possible," she said.

She noted that the agency had risen from below the first rung of the WHO Global Benchmarking ladder in 2017 to Maturity Level 3, a distinction held by only 35 per cent of regulatory agencies worldwide.

The awards ceremony, themed "From Vision to Velocity: Driving Africa's Next Wave of Growth and Leadership," was hosted by Baroness Sandy Verma, with Lord Dolar Popat and Baroness Lindsay Northover among the dignitaries in attendance.

During the conference, Adeyeye also delivered a keynote address urging African universities to align their curricula with global regulatory standards and embrace digital transformation to improve competitiveness.