Babatunji Wusu –
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) destroyed almost N500 million worth of counterfeit and expired items, including medications, food, and cosmetics, among other things, on Wednesday.
Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, the agency’s Director-General, indicated that while some of the commodities were seized, others were voluntarily surrendered to the agency.
She explained that the agency destroys such items to prevent them from being re-circulated on the market.
During the demolition exercise on Wednesday, NAFDAC stated that fraudulent and expired items worth over N500 million were destroyed, adding that the activity, which took place in Abuja, was an agency’s nationwide routine exercise.
According to this site, some of the commodities destroyed include psychoactive and controlled substances such as antibiotics, antihypertensive, antimalarials, herbal snuff and herbal remedies, and drugs confiscated from drug hawkers.
Others included Spaghetti, vegetable oil, and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as a 1 by 40ft container of unlicensed Faurecia instant-powered milk handed over to the agency by Nigeria Customs Services.
Cosmetics like as creams, lotion, and pomade, as well as skin-lightening creams seized from SPAS and beauty centers, were included among the destroyed products, as were chemicals such as phony pesticides and medical gadgets.
Other things incinerated were expired and unwholesome products voluntarily handed over for destruction by complaint corporations, non-governmental organizations, and the Nigerian Association of Community Pharmacy.
During the exercise, the NAFDAC boss, who was represented by Mr Francis Ononiwu, the NAFDAC Director of Investigation and Enforcement, said, “I have said on several platforms that drug counterfeiting is an act of economic sabotage, and it also represents a serious threat to public health, and NAFDAC, under my watch, has been repositioned to combat this menace.”
“The agency has taken a proactive approach, engaging political, traditional, and faith leaders, as well as journalists and other Nigerians, to educate their wards about the dangers of dealing with substandard and falsified medicine.”
“I wish to use this medium to urge all and sundry to be on the lookout for spurious and counterfeit medicines, unwholesome foods and other regulated products and report same to NAFDAC.”
