Prof. Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye honoured at the 16th African Business Leadership Awards in London for transforming Nigeria’s pharmaceutical regulatory system into a global benchmark.
In a ceremony that brought together heads of state, ministers, parliamentarians, and Africa’s most distinguished business and public sector leaders, Prof. Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye, FAS, Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), was presented with the Special African Leadership Commendation Award at the 16th African Business Leadership Awards (ABLA), held at the historic Cholmondeley Room and Terrace, House of Lords, Palace of Westminster, London, on 3 July 2026.
The recognition, conferred by the Global Advisory Board of the African Leadership Organisation (ALO), the publisher of African Leadership Magazine, was awarded following a rigorous, merit-based screening and vetting process spanning several years, during which Prof. Adeyeye’s leadership trajectory and institutional impact were independently tracked and assessed by an international panel.
The award tells a story that every Nigerian should know. When Prof. Adeyeye assumed office as Director General of NAFDAC on 30 November 2017, she inherited an agency in deep institutional distress. The agency carried a debt burden of over ₦3.2 billion. Between 70 and 80 per cent of the equipment across NAFDAC’s seven laboratories was non-functional. There were no vehicles for inspection. Staff morale had collapsed under repeated industrial strikes. No Director had a NAFDAC-issued laptop. Digitisation was non-existent. And on the World Health Organisation’s Global Benchmarking scale of one to four, NAFDAC was rated below Level One. One international observer had described the agency bluntly as a “good-for-nothing agency.”
Less than a decade later, the same agency stands as one of the most credible regulatory bodies on the African continent.
Through fiscal discipline alone, Prof. Adeyeye cleared the inherited debt of over ₦3.1 billion within her first year in office, discovering in the process that ₦200 million of that debt was fictitious. She procured over 150 utility vehicles, invested over ₦7 billion in laboratory equipment, and equipped more than half of NAFDAC’s 2,000-plus workforce with laptops and desktop computers.
She digitised 90 per cent of the agency’s regulatory processes, instituted standard operating procedures across all functions, and pursued ISO 9001 certification, which NAFDAC achieved by 2019 and has maintained through recertification to date.
The global recognition that has followed is remarkable by any standard.
NAFDAC attained WHO Global Benchmarking Maturity Level 3 in March 2022, a distinction held by only 35 per cent of regulatory agencies worldwide, and was successfully re-benchmarked in June 2025.
The Central Drug Laboratory in Lagos achieved WHO Prequalification in September 2023.
Nigeria attained Pre-Accession Pre-Applicant status in the Pharmaceutical Inspection and Cooperation Scheme (PIC/S), a membership shared by only 50 countries globally.
In 2025, Nigeria became the 24th member of the International Council for Harmonisation (ICH), one of only 25 members among 194 regulatory agencies worldwide.
Through the Five Plus Five regulatory directive, Prof. Adeyeye drove a 70 per cent reduction in the importation of pharmaceuticals already being manufactured in Nigeria, significantly strengthening the domestic pharmaceutical industry. International pharmaceutical companies that left Nigeria in 2017 are now investing and reinvesting in the country, bringing technology transfer and global partnerships.
NAFDAC is now working towards WHO Maturity Level 4 and World Listed Authority status, milestones that would enable medicines manufactured in Nigeria to be traded freely across the African continent and globally, positioning Nigeria as a pharmaceutical export nation of international standing.
The two-day ABLA programme, themed “From Vision to Velocity: Driving Africa’s Next Wave of Growth and Leadership,” was held across two iconic London venues.
Day One took place at the GMT Suite, Hilton London Metropole, where Prof. Adeyeye delivered a keynote address on “The African University of the Future: Innovation, Relevance, and Global Competitiveness,” calling for the urgent alignment of African university curricula with global regulatory standards and the integration of digitisation across all academic disciplines. Her address drew wide commendation from the assembled leaders.
Day Two, the awards ceremony at the House of Lords, was hosted by Baroness Sandy Verma, with Lord Dolar Popat and Baroness Lindsay Northover attending as special guests.
The ALO International Advisory Council, chaired by H.E. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, former President of the United Republic of Tanzania, was represented by H.E. Chief Dr. Jewel Howard Taylor, former Vice President of Liberia, Gen. William Kip Ward, First Commander of US Africa Command, Hon. Nomvula Mokonyane, former Premier of Gauteng and Deputy Secretary General of the African National Congress of South Africa, and Dr. Victor Oladokun, Communications Advisor to the President of the African Development Bank, among others.
Speaking after receiving her award, Prof. Adeyeye said:
“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. When I assumed office in November 2017, NAFDAC was rated below the first rung of the WHO Global Benchmarking ladder. Today, we stand at Maturity Level 3, successfully re-benchmarked in June 2025, a distinction held by only 35 per cent of regulatory agencies worldwide. This recognition belongs to every member of the NAFDAC family.”
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