NAFDAC Chief Survives Gun Attack
Dr. Paul Orhii, the Director General of Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), recently survived an attack on his life.
Unknown gunmen attempted to kill Orhii, whose agency fights the problem of counterfeit drugs in Nigeria, as he was returning from his village in northern Benue state to the capital city of Abuja, NAFDAC spokesman Abubakar Jimoh told Afrique en Ligne.
Dr. Paul Orhii, the Director General of Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), recently survived an attack on his life.
Unknown gunmen attempted to kill Orhii, whose agency fights the problem of counterfeit drugs in Nigeria, as he was returning from his village in northern Benue state to the capital city of Abuja, NAFDAC spokesman Abubakar Jimoh told Afrique en Ligne.
According to reports, a Mercedes Benz car in which four gunmen were riding pulled up next to the NAFDAC SUV that Orhii was riding in at Akwanga, along the Keff-Abuja road and one of the men in the sedan pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot at the Director General. The police escort behind Orhii’s vehicle was able to ram the SUV, distracting the shooter. Policemen quickly jumped off their vehicle to surround the gunmen’s car, however they were ordered not shoot to avoid killing innocent civilians, and the gunmen escape.
Orhii and NAFDAC are determined to put an end to the proliferation of fake drugs in Nigera and have declared war on importers and manufacturers of counterfeits.
This is not the first attack on the life of a government representative in Nigeria. In August, a number of NAFDAC officials, in the process of confiscating goods from a fake drug dealer in Onueke, Ezza South Local Government Area, were attacked in the Ebonyi State by a mob of youths who were reportedly bribed by counterfeit drug dealers, according to the Daily Sun.
An attempt on the life of the former NAFDAC boss, Professor Dora Akunyili, who is now the Minister of Information, was made in 2003 while returning from his village in southeastern Nigeria, reports Afrique en Ligne.
Orhii was recently interviewed by Dan Rather for HD Net regarding his efforts to rid Nigeria of counterfeit drugs.