Adeyeye, who spoke during a media engagement on Monday, said she returned to Nigeria after decades of professional success in the United States because of her desire to contribute to the development of the country.
The NAFDAC boss used the occasion to defend her stewardship of the agency, recounting what she described as the difficult financial, administrative and operational conditions she inherited when she assumed office.
Addressing allegations of financial impropriety, she challenged any contractor with evidence that she had demanded money from them to speak out.
“Any contractor that I have demanded money from should come here and tell me! I came here for service. I retired happily. I was ashamed of my country! I came to remove some of the shame. And the world is seeing it! The world is seeing it!”
Adeyeye said her decision to return to Nigeria followed a lengthy academic career in the United States, where she spent 34 years and worked as a professor for three decades.
She said her experience abroad could have provided her with the option of remaining in retirement, but she instead chose to return home and serve.
“I lived in the US for 34 years. I was a professor for 30 years in an all-white school. I retired happily. I came here to serve, but some Nigerians have an aversion to service. It is for what can I get!
“We have rendered Nigeria useless because of ‘what can I get’! We have rendered Nigeria useless because of ‘what is in it for my pocket?’”
‘NAFDAC Had N3.2bn Debt’
Adeyeye also provided an account of the financial and operational challenges she said confronted NAFDAC when she took over the agency.
According to her, the agency inherited about N3.2 billion in debt, alongside unpaid taxes and other outstanding financial obligations.
“When I got to NAFDAC, NAFDAC had a status of minus maturity level one out of four. We had N3.2 billion debt that I inherited.”
She said the liabilities included approximately N1.6 billion in unpaid taxes, outstanding payments to staff who had travelled for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) activities and debts owed to contractors.
Beyond the financial burden, Adeyeye said the agency's technical infrastructure was also in poor condition when she assumed office.
She claimed that between 70 and 80 per cent of NAFDAC's laboratory equipment was not functioning, while the agency's information and communication technology infrastructure was similarly inadequate.
“No single director had a laptop bought by NAFDAC as of 2017. The ICT was put in the deep freezer. We paid about N3.1 billion by November 2018. The other money was fictitious, and we did not pay that one.
“Then people asked me — why are you paying debts? We don’t pay debts here o! I said ehn ehn? But I told them I was brought up not to owe. Not to be a slave to the lender.”
‘2022 Was a Horrible Year’
The NAFDAC director-general also reflected on the internal crisis that confronted the agency during the final year of her first tenure.
She described 2022 as a particularly difficult period, alleging that staff were instigated to embark on a prolonged strike.
“In 2022, that was the last year of my first term. It was a bad year. It was a horrible year because people instigated, even our staff, to go on strike from June of 2022 to November. To paint the kettle black, but the kettle has remained white.”
Adeyeye further alleged that the industrial action and other activities were connected to efforts by individuals seeking to succeed her as NAFDAC director-general.
“Because some people wanted to become DG of NAFDAC? They are instigating a lot, behind the scene,” she said.
NAFDAC Rose to Level 3
Despite the challenges she said she encountered, Adeyeye highlighted what she described as major institutional gains recorded under her leadership.
She said NAFDAC progressed from what she described as a very low regulatory maturity position to Level 3 by March 2022, making it the third agency in Africa to attain that level.
“By March 2022, we became a maturity level 3 Agency, the third in Africa.”
According to her, the improvement strengthened the agency's standing internationally and helped restore confidence in Nigeria's regulatory system.
Adeyeye said NAFDAC subsequently became an affiliate member of the International Medical Regulatory Forum in March 2023 and joined the International Council for Harmonisation in 2025.
She recalled that, in the early years of her tenure, considerable effort had to be devoted to rebuilding the agency's reputation both within Nigeria and internationally.
“Countries now respect us. Regulatory agencies respect us. In my first two years, I was going round doing image-making, rebuilding our bad image.
“They were calling NAFDAC ‘good for nothing agency’. Somebody told me, ‘Oh, we used to call NAFDAC a good-for-nothing agency. Congratulations, you are now maturity level 3,’” she said.
Adeyeye's comments underline her broader argument that NAFDAC has undergone a significant transformation during her tenure, from an agency grappling with debt, inadequate equipment and a damaged public image to one she says now commands greater international recognition.
Her challenge to contractors comes amid her wider defence of her record and her insistence that her return to Nigeria was motivated by public service rather than personal financial gain.