The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has been honoured with the Special African Leadership Commendation Award at the 16th African Business Leadership Awards (ABLA), held at the House of Lords, Palace of Westminster, London.
Adeyeye received the award during the ceremony held on 3 July at the historic Cholmondeley Room and Terrace, where African heads of state, ministers, parliamentarians, business leaders and public sector executives gathered for the annual event organised by the African Leadership Organisation (ALO), publishers of African Leadership Magazine.
According to the organisers, the award was conferred by the Global Advisory Board of ALO after what it described as a rigorous, merit-based assessment of Adeyeye’s leadership and institutional impact over several years by an international panel.
The recognition comes nearly nine years after Adeyeye assumed office as NAFDAC Director-General on 30 November 2017, at a time when the agency was grappling with financial and operational challenges.
The organisers said the agency inherited a debt burden of more than ₦3.2 billion, with between 70 and 80 per cent of equipment across its seven laboratories non-functional. It also lacked operational vehicles, had limited digital infrastructure and was rated below Level One on the World Health Organisation’s Global Benchmarking Tool for National Medicines Regulatory Authorities.
Since then, they said, NAFDAC has undergone significant reforms under Adeyeye’s leadership. The agency reportedly cleared more than ₦3.1 billion in inherited debt within her first year in office after identifying about ₦200 million as fictitious debt. It also procured more than 150 utility vehicles, invested over ₦7 billion in laboratory equipment and provided computers to more than half of its workforce.
The agency also digitised about 90 per cent of its regulatory processes, introduced standard operating procedures across its operations and secured ISO 9001 certification in 2019, which it has since maintained through recertification.
The organisers further noted that NAFDAC attained the World Health Organisation’s Global Benchmarking Maturity Level 3 in March 2022 and successfully retained the status following a re-benchmarking exercise in June 2025. They added that the agency’s Central Drug Laboratory in Lagos achieved World Health Organisation (WHO) Prequalification in September 2023, while Nigeria also secured Pre-Accession Pre-Applicant status in the Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme (PIC/S).
They said Nigeria further strengthened its global regulatory standing in 2025 when it became the 24th member of the International Council for Harmonisation (ICH), placing the country’s medicines regulatory system among a select group of international regulatory authorities.
The organisers also credited Adeyeye’s Five Plus Five regulatory directive with reducing the importation of pharmaceuticals already manufactured locally by about 70 per cent, a development they said has encouraged renewed investment by international pharmaceutical companies and boosted local manufacturing capacity.
The two-day African Business Leadership Awards programme was held under the theme, “From Vision to Velocity: Driving Africa’s Next Wave of Growth and Leadership.”
On the opening day at the Hilton London Metropole, Adeyeye delivered a keynote address on “The African University of the Future: Innovation, Relevance, and Global Competitiveness,” where she advocated aligning African university curricula with global regulatory standards and accelerating digitisation across higher education.
The awards ceremony at the House of Lords was hosted by Sandy Verma, with Dolar Popat and Lindsay Northover in attendance.
The event also attracted members of the ALO International Advisory Council, including former Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, former Liberian Vice-President Jewel Howard Taylor, retired US General William E. ‘Kip’ Ward, former Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane and African Development Bank communications adviser Victor Oladokun.
Speaking after receiving the award, Adeyeye 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 tireless work makes every achievement attributed to my leadership possible,” she said.
She noted that when she assumed office in 2017, NAFDAC was rated below the first level of the WHO Global Benchmarking ladder but had since attained Maturity Level 3 and successfully retained the status following the June 2025 re-benchmarking exercise. “This recognition belongs to every member of the NAFDAC family,” she added.
