The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has defended the agency’s decision to shut down markets involved in the sale of counterfeit drugs, emphasising that the move was about public safety, and not to disrupt businesses.
“We are not disturbing trade, we are protecting lives,” Adeyeye stated while revealing the discovery of large quantities of prohibited and counterfeit drugs hidden inside plumbing materials’ shops at the Onitsha Bridgehead Drug Market in Anambra State.
She credited the success of the operation to the collaboration with security agencies, particularly the National Security Adviser (NSA). “We couldn’t have done it ourselves without the National Security Adviser,” she noted.
Professor Adeyeye warned that counterfeit drugs pose a serious security risk to the country, referencing a BBC documentary on drug abuse in Africa. “What BBC said will shock you—young men that have been rendered useless. So what NAFDAC is doing is what NAFDAC is supposed to do: safeguarding. There is no politics in what we are doing,” she asserted.
She further revealed that many shops in the market were not registered with the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN), which regulates pharmaceutical premises and staff. “Most of the shops are not registered by PCN. PCN registers sites and the people working at the site, so the rules have been broken right from the beginning,” she said.
Displaying one of the seized products, the NAFDAC DG issued a stern warning about the dangers of illegal narcotics. “This is tramadol 225. This will fry the brain of anybody. This will destroy the future of our country, our youth, our future,” she said.
LEADERSHIP recalls that NAFDAC had earlier revealed that its officials confiscated two trailer loads of unregistered narcotics, banned tramadol, and counterfeit drugs concealed within non-drug sections of the market. The agency maintains that its enforcement actions are necessary to protect public health and national security.
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