Dora Akunyili

In 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Dora Akunyili as Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), marking the beginning of one of Nigeria's most significant public health campaigns. A pharmacist by training, Akunyili immediately launched an aggressive war against counterfeit and substandard drugs that had flooded Nigerian markets. Her efforts included public destruction of fake medicines, raids on illegal manufacturing facilities, and partnerships with international agencies to strengthen drug regulation.

Nigeria's pharmaceutical sector in the 1990s was plagued by weak regulatory oversight and widespread importation of dangerous counterfeit drugs, particularly from Asia. The country's economic challenges and limited regulatory capacity had created a lucrative black market where fake medicines caused thousands of deaths annually. Previous NAFDAC leadership had struggled to address the crisis effectively, leaving Nigerian consumers vulnerable to medications that were either ineffective or actively harmful to their health.