By Fasilat Lawal
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has destroyed unregistered and unwholesome products worth about eleven billion naira.
The exercise which took place at the Oyo State Government-approved dumpsite in Akinyele Local Government Area of the state was witnessed by NAFDAC Director General, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye.
Professor Adeyeye who was represented by the Director of NAFDAC South West Zone, Mrs Roseline Ajayi, explained that the items destroyed were seized in the five states of the Southwest Zone and, Kwara State in the North Central due to their nearness to the zone.
The NAFDAC Director-General listed the items set ablaze by the agency, including expired products that were voluntarily forfeited by people in the drug distribution channel, unregistered and unwholesome products that were raided from different outlets and warehouses, fake and counterfeit as well as unregistered imported products smuggled into the country.
Professor Adeyeye pointed out that the public destruction of the products was to show the people that the seized items were not diverted for personal use but to prevent them from being circulated and consumed by the public.
The DG who noted that the exercise was carried out under close monitoring in an approved dumpsite to reduce the impact of environmental pollution, solicited the continued partnership from sister agencies and Nigerians to keep the country safe and free from unwholesome, substandard, fake and counterfeit medicine and other regulated products.
The Head of Investigation Enforcement Directorate, NAFDAC, Mr Mohammed Shaba who said products worth 98.2 billion naira were also destroyed by the agency in October this year, urged the public to see reporting activities of manufacturers of fake products, expired products being repackaged, as a civic responsibility.
Mr Shaba stated that NAFDAC had signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, with the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, to strengthen their collaboration in combating product counterfeiting and trafficking of illicit drugs.
In a remark, the Chairman, the Oyo State Hospital Management Board, Dr Akin Fagbemi reiterated Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration’s efforts in safeguarding the health of citizens and applauded NAFDAC’s transparency in its destruction of the confiscated products.
The event featured goodwill messages from the Nigeria Customs Service, NSC, Nigeria Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, and Nigeria Police Force, among others.
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