By Aideloje Ojo
Minna
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has destroyed expired, forfeited drugs and unwholesome regulated products valued at over N144 million in Niger state.
The destruction exercise took place yesterday at the Niger state permanent disposal dump site on Beji – Zungeru road in Bosso local government area of the state.
Acting Director General of NAFDAC, Mrs. Yetude Oni, represented by the Agency’s Director for Special Duties, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, lead the team of stakeholders to witness the exercise.
She said some of the products worth N97 million were voluntarily submitted to NAFDAC by various governmental and non-governmental organisations, while others were mopped up from open market by enforcement activities and surveillance systems of NAFDAC.
She said the agency had destroyed products worth N224 million from three states in the North-central, explaining that N21 million worth of products were destroyed in Nasarawa state, N89 million in Plateau state and N144 million in Niger state.
Oni said the enforcement and surveillance systems were not without daunting challenges as counterfeiters continue to adopt different strategies to ensure they evaded arrest and enjoy proceeds of their corrupt practices, adding that “NAFDAC will continue to deploy all strategies to ensure violators are not only arrested, but face the full wrath of the law.”
The DG lamented that “Nigeria has become an easy target and dumping ground for counterfeit drugs because of its porous borders adding that the nation currently have 1,400 illegal routes.”
In her address, the Zonal Coordinator of the Agency in the North-central zone, Mrs. Josephine Dayilim, said the same exercise was aimed at ensuring that “only efficacious, safe and good quality drugs and other wholesome regulated products are always made available to the Nigerian populace.”
The Niger state NAFDAC Coordinator, Mr. Ibrahim Isah, called for synergy with other sister agencies at the state, national and international level, stating that the destruction was necessary for the safeguarding the health of the nation.
