Dpharmacist:
In Nigeria, the problem has never been a lack of laws or institutions—on paper, we have enough regulatory bodies to keep every industry in check. The real issue? Enforcement.
Regulations exist. Agencies exist. Policies exist. But enforcement is selective—often dictated not by duty, but by who is willing to pay for silence.
When Regulators Become Racketeers
Regulatory bodies that were created to protect consumers have instead become gatekeepers of corruption. Officials who should be cracking down on dangerous and unethical practices collect bribes, look the other way, and allow the system to rot.
We see it everywhere:
Fake alcohol flooding the market, yet NAFDAC and Customs pretend not to notice.
Expired and substandard drugs still being sold in patent medicine stores/chemists, yet regulatory checks rarely lead to shutdowns.
Oil marketers manipulating fuel prices, while agencies issue empty threats but do nothing.
These institutions are not failing because they are incapable. They are failing because enforcing the law has become a business.
The Cost of Speaking Up
Now, what happens when an honest official tries to challenge the system?
They become a target.
In Nigeria, disrupting profitable corruption is a dangerous game. Whistleblowers are either threatened into silence or eliminated. Those who refuse to play by the rules of corruption quickly find themselves isolated—or worse.
Need proof? Look no further than Dora Akunyili.
She was one of the few public officials who genuinely tried to clean up the system. As the Director-General of NAFDAC, she took on the powerful drug counterfeiters head-on. She exposed them, shut down fake drug factories, and refused to take bribes—a move that nearly cost her life when she survived an assassination attempt.
But what happened after her tenure? The old ways returned. Fake drugs crept back into pharmacies. Regulatory compromises resumed. And once again, the highest bidder dictates what gets enforced and what gets ignored.
Why the System Remains Broken
Nigeria’s problem is not a lack of laws; it’s the fact that laws are bought and sold.
It’s not a lack of institutions; it’s that institutions have been hijacked by those they were meant to regulate.
And until we fix the culture of impunity, where corrupt officials act without fear of consequences, enforcement will remain a cash cow for the highest bidder—while ordinary Nigerians pay the price.
So the question remains: How many more Dora Akunyilis do we need before we finally realize that silence is complicity?
Cc seun nlfpmod The Reality of life |
