Sherif Alaba Olagunju, a Civil Servant par excellence, has taken a bow after 35 years of meritorious service to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Gatekeepers News reports that Olagunju was honoured with a send-off at Swiss hotel in Ajao Estate, Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria, on Wednesday, January, 19th, 2022, which marked his 35th year as a Civil Servant. His friends and associates also hosted him at a memorable surprise reception at Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja, Lagos, on Saturday 22nd January 2022.
Olagunju joined the services of the Federal Government on January 19th, 1987 as a Laboratory Analyst at the Central Drug Control Laboratory, Food and Drug Administration and Control Department (FDAC), under the Federal Ministry of Health before he advanced over the years to the rank of NAFDAC’s Director of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition on 5th March 2018. This, is due to his vast knowledge and regulatory experience across the Food and Drug sector.
Some of the training he was exposed to from the beginning of his career clearly shaped him into being a fantastic public servant as he traversed different directorates and zones.
“I can still remember being sent off to the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) in Badagry for a one-week residential training, I did not know what to expect, but was quite excited to attend the programme. The training exposed us to the rudiments and functioning of the Civil Service, and I think it was an excellent way to start because it set the tone and gave us a direction,” he said while sharing his journey in NAFDAC.
Having worked as a Laboratory Analyst, he started a new phase in the 1990s as a Food and Drug Inspector/Regulatory Officer with technical experience and knowledge in Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), distribution practices, food safety principles and policy development.
Between 1997 to 1999, Olagunju led others as Officer in Charge of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Cargo Sheds, Nigeria’s busiest Air Cargo Terminal: NAHCO and SAHCOL Sheds, during which he made several seizures of fake drugs, vaccines, and several unauthorised regulated products.
In the mid-1999, he was reassigned as Officer in Charge of Kirikiri Lighter Container Terminal, a newly established off-dock container terminal with other bonded terminals like MIFGO Bonded Terminal, Sapid Bonded Terminal, among others. During this period, he was vested with the responsibility to establish the first NAFDAC presence in these terminals and set up offices. The offices started in vehicles before he and his team were able to secure accommodations.
Many imports were brought under regulation during this period, and several seizures of unregistered and other violative regulated products were also made when he oversaw the Terminals for two years till 2001.
The distinguished fellow was again, moved in the last quarter of 2001 to Apapa Port, the country’s largest and busiest port, to take over as Officer in Charge when the nation’s market was polluted with fake pharmaceutical products. Joining hands with the then appointed Director-General of the agency, Dr. Dora Nkem Akunyili, in tackling the challenge, Olagunju used his knowledge and experience at the seaports to contribute significantly to the advice given to the DG to approach the Federal Government to limit the importations of drugs to only few entry point across Nigeria to enable NAFDAC to focus her resources for adequate control.
Apapa ports, Calabar seaport, Murtala Mohammed International Cargo Airport Lagos and Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano were approved by the Federal Government as exclusive entry points for all pharmaceutical products (including pharmaceutical raw materials) into the country.
Olagunju, a compass of sterling impact, played an active role, evidently from the few ones mentioned above, in the enforcement of NAFDAC laws and regulations and participated in the regulatory control of imports and exports of regulated products.
He is a member of the Federal Taskforce on Fake and Counterfeit Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods and has worked along with Interpol on several joint anti-counterfeiting operations. He has served as an expert witness in several court cases arising from various violations.
The quintessential Food and Drug administrator earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Lagos in 1985 and a Master’s Degree in Business administration (MBA) from the Lagos State University awarded in 2004. He is a Fellow of the Institute for Security Studies (fsi).
Surely, everything that has a beginning must have an end and as Olagunju’s public service career in NAFDAC ends following his retirement, he will be sorely missed by friends and colleagues of the agency.
Olagunju’s retirement symbolises a new beginning of another chapter in his life because clearly, he may have retired, but he is certainly not tired.
