Olayiwola Matthew
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said that its discoveries at the Idumota, Ariaria, and Onitsha drug markets can ruin a nation.
The agency has been cracking down on fake and banned medicines in major markets across the country, seizing large consignments of illegal and adulterated drugs.
Speaking on Friday during a press briefing in Lagos, Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC director-general, said its personnel seized up to 80 to 40 feet truckloads of drugs from the Onitsha and Aba markets.
“What we found during our enforcement operations in Idumota, Aba and Onitsha open drug markets can ruin a nation and reduce the quality of life of Nigerians,” Adeyeye said.
“If a patient with diabetes or hypertension takes some of the drugs we evacuated, such a person or people can die easily with what we found.”
Adeyeye, who said the agency destroyed about 27 to 40 feet truckloads of medicines discovered in Idumota market, noted that the counterfeit drugs could “reduce the quality of life of Nigerians”.
The NAFDAC DG said that although the enforcement operations have ended, the agency would not relent in its efforts to curb the sale of fake drugs in the country.
“In Onitsha and Aba, we evacuated close to 80 40-feet truckloads of drugs from the markets and various warehouses where drugs were stored without windows,” she added.
“We discovered 12 truckloads of tramadol and four truckloads of codeine syrups that were banned for treatment some years ago in the plumbing line, fashion line and wood section in the market.
“We have already destroyed 27 40-feet truckloads of drugs we evacuated from Idumota market.”