Alexander Davis

Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Monday, December 30, 2019, destroyed unwholesome goods worth approximately N1.32billion.

Agency report states the harmful items, generated from five states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo, in the South-East Zone of the country, included drugs, cosmetics, beverages, and other regulated products.

Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, Director-General of NAFDAC, said the destroyed goods were expired, substandard, counterfeited and banned items, which were voluntarily surrendered, seized and ordered for destruction by the courts.

Represented by Mr. Kingsley Ejiofor, Director, Investigation and Enforcement of NAFDAC, Prof. Adeyeye said that 80 per cent of the destroyed items were drug-related products.

According to Mr. Ejiofor, “the cost of what is being destroyed is valued at about N1.32billion and 80 per cent is drugs, others are cosmetics and other regulated products.

“Imagine if these products are in circulation, consider what it will mean to public health. That is why we are encouraging people to report cases of counterfeited, expired and suspected unwholesome products to NAFDAC,” he said.

Mrs. Olajumoke Ojetokun, the Enugu Zonal Coordinator of NAFDAC, commended the agency’s stakeholders for the success of the exercise.

She said the agency was determined to ensure that the entire South-East markets for all NAFDAC-regulated products were free of expired, counterfeited, banned and unwholesome products.

Mr. Obianika Okafor, General Manager of E. I. Ejison, one of the stakeholders who voluntarily surrendered its product to NAFDAC, said it was important to also prosecute offenders after seizures.

Okafor said the company observed a production error in a batch of one of its products, recalled it, and called on NAFDAC for handover and destruction.

He, however, urged producers and importers to ensure that their products fulfilled all quality and certification processes to avoid the colossal economic loss related to seizures and destruction by the regulatory body.

The Director, Investigation and Enforcement, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Kingsley Ejiofor; Agency’s Imo State Coordinator, Neche John; South-East Director, Mrs. Olajumoke Ojetokun; and Abia Coordinator, Olisa Okereke, witnessed the destruction of fake and substandard drugs in Awka, Anambra State.