Paul O. Orhii

Dr. Paul Orhii is a former Director-General of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), succeeding Dora Akunyili. Dr. Orhii has a doctorate in neuropharmacology.

Dr. Paul Botwev Orhii was born and raised at Lessel in our Benue State of Nigeria. He attended St. Francis College, Otukpo, Benue State, which he successfully completed in 1980 with a “Distinction” in the West African School Certificate Examination.

He was admitted to study Medicine at the University of Jos, Dr. Orhii won a highly competitive scholarship award and became one of the 23 successful candidates selected from a pool of more than 168,000 applicants to study medicine in Russia for the 1982 academic year.

Paul graduated with Honors from the Stavropol State Medical Institute, Russia in 1989, and was immediately offered an opportunity to pursue a Ph.D. in Medicine (emphasis in Chrono-Neuropsy chopharmacology).

That made him the first foreigner ever, to be sponsored by the school and to be awarded a teaching assistantship.

Prior to being appointed into NAFDAC, he served as the "expert witness" to the Federal and Kano State governments in the lawsuit against Pfizer, the US pharmaceutical giant, over the company’s Trovan drug trials in Kano.

He has worked as a lecturer at the University of Jos, Nigeria, and as a Biomedical Scientist at the University of Texas, Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas

He has over 20 years cumulative working experience in the field of medicine in Nigeria and the United States of America.

Dr. Paul Orhii improved upon the achievements of his predecessor and consolidated on the gains and legacy bequeathed by the last person at the helm of affairs. He in the year 2015 in his fundamental approach to radically solving pressing issues and tackling challenging situations has embarked on and made successful completion of several projects that seeks to enhance the functionality and work output of its staff all over the country.

In addition, his dedication to waging war against the country’s counterfeiting cabal, grinding their nefarious activities to a halt with all the attendant pressure shows a man ready to swim the murky waters and excel at the highest level in public service and imprint his footsteps in the sands of time.

The landmark achievement of Dr Orhii in reducing the circulation levels of fake anti-malarial drugs from 19% down to a minimal level of 3% cannot go unheralded, this is a rare feat considering the fact that it was his administration who actually worked towards the first reduction from its initial high of 64% to 19% when he assumed office, with increasing regulatory pressures and the drive towards wholesome manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturers need efficient ways to perform accurate raw materials identification, these considerations birth the innovative ideas that brings about the introduction of several sophisticated anti-counterfeiting technologies such as TruScan, Mobile Authentication Services (MAS) an SMS based swift confirmation service and Deep Infrared Technology in the fight against counterfeiters.

TruScan Analyzer for raw material identification and finished product inspection delivers reliable analysis in seconds, right at the point of need to decrease sampling costs and increase inventory turns. It is a hand-held device extensively used to screen out counterfeit substances and reduce supply chain risk and it is designed for intuitive operation, it’s non-destructive point-and-shoot sampling facilitates rapid identification of a broad range of chemical compounds through sealed packaging to minimize the risk of contamination and exposure. The analyzer requires minimal training and has an audit trail for GMP compliance. Both TruScan RM and GP hand-held Analyzer is designed to provide cost-effective material quality control to pharmaceutical manufacturers and chemical companies in emerging global markets.

The result of these innovations has been awesome. There has been unprecedented reduction in the number of unwholesome drugs and food materials coming into the country. Local manufacturers of inferior drugs are facing the worst battle of their lives in the present dispensation under Dr. Orhii. In retaliation, the thieves are now unleashing several lies against the Agency and its leadership, especially Dr. Orhii. And the social media has yielded itself as a willing tool.

• Honorary Fellowship Award, Chemical Society of Nigeria
• National Honors Award, President Goodluck Jonathan

• peoplesdailyng.com/chemical-society-honours-nafdac-boss
• news.onlinenigeria.com/nigeria-news/3294-jonathan-confers-honours-on-adenuga-others-today