Lagos — There is a sense in the argument that Nigeria is the preferred dumping ground of the world especially the advanced economies which

readily see Nigeria as an expansive and willing receptacle to junk their products and even services.

A particular trend has emerged over the decades and Nigeria has come to assume the ignoble prefix as the junkyard of the world, or at best, the guinea pig for all manner of experiments.

We recall the shipload of toxic waste ferried all the way from Italy and dumped in the littoral and rural community of Koko in Delta State. That was in 1990. Not a few Nigerians and international environmental watch groups were angered by that insensitive and inhuman treatment meted out to the tiny Koko community. The waste, expectedly, denatured both aquatic and terrestial life in the area.

We recall also the noxious fuel imported into the country in the days of the late military dictator, General Sani Abacha, of course under the supervision of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) across the country. And with it came a basket of sicknesses from eye infection, flu to cough. Medicallists at that time warned that the health implications may be dire, but nobody listened.

Only last month, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) was forced to shut all pharmacies belonging to Julius Berger, the multinational construction company. The agency had accused the construction company of importing, reselling and dispensing sub-standard drugs in its clinics. To rub in the insult on Nigerians, Julius Berger expatriate employees were said to be treated with wholesome drugs while its Nigerian employees were treated with the sub-standard drugs.

The whirl of public revulsion raised by the Julius Berger episode had barely simmered when The Washington Post, one of America's most influential newspapers, excavated a five-year-old report which indicted Pfizer, a multinational pharmaceutical firm for using Nigerian children as guinea pigs to test its drug, Trovan, in 1996.

According to the report which was the outcome of an investigation by a panel of Nigerian medical experts, Pfizer had administered the drug to some children in Kano who had been struck by a deadly strain of Meningitis. The report described the experiment as "a clear case of exploitation of the ignorant." Five children died after being treated with the drug while a few others developed arthritis. But there has not been any proven link between the drug and the deaths.

Under all known international laws, a drug must be registered before it is administered to patients. And in the case of any experimentation, preliminary or otherwise, the patients ought to be properly informed. This, the report said, was not the case in the Pfizer matter.

But Pfizer has put up a strong defence insisting that it "conducted the trial with the full knowledge of the Nigerian government and in a responsible way consistent with Nigerian laws and the company's abiding commitment to patient safety."

However, the report has put a lie to this defence. The report said an approval letter from a Nigerian ethics committee which Pfizer used to justify its action was a falsified document.

At this juncture, it is difficult to believe any of the parties in this claim and counter-claim. But the enormity of the Pfizer action and the fact that it borders on both ethics and life have made it a matter fit for further inquest, even a judicial inquest.

Pfizer's action to test the drug on the children may be altruistic. Again, it may not be. But one question sticks out: Was Nigeria the first and only country in the world where the drug was put to test? If so, why? Even this has thrown up more questions. Where were NAFDAC officials when the drugs were brought into the country? What was the level of complicity of Nigerians in the trial? Was the approval document being flaunted by Pfizer actually forged? If so, should the forgers not be prosecuted for such horrendous and heinous act?

Again, if there was no mischief intended, why was the report written five yeas ago kept in the cooler? Why was it not made public immediately given the outrage that greeted the after-effects of the trial at that time?

Very clearly, there is more to this Pfizer episode than meets the eye. It is on this note that we call on the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, the pharmaceutical arm of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), NAFDAC and the human rights community to dig deeper into this matter with the sole aim of unearthing the whole truth.

Both the Federal Government and Kano State government should demonstrate good spirit by instituting a judicial commission of inquiry into the matter. This is a matter of life and death and every person, expatriate or Nigerian, found to have been involved in any form of ethical fraud in the matter should be brought to book. This is the best way to deter.