NAFDAC Destroys N500m Worth Of Fake Goods In Anambara

           
Fake drugs,foods and cosmetics items worth about N500million were destroyed in Anambra State by the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

According to the director-general of the agency, Dr Paul Orhii, most of the items were voluntarily surrendered by traders in in the state, especially those at the popular Bridgehead market, Onitsha.
Addressing stakeholders at the Anambra State Waste Management Agency, (ASWAMA0) refuse dump site on Saturday, Agu-Awka industrial lay-out in Awka, the state capital, where the unwholesome items were set ablaze, the NAFDAC DG, commended the cooperation of traders at the Bridgehead market and their leadership for taking it upon themselves to checkmate circulation of such unwholesome items in their market.

“The products destroyed consist of counterfeit and fake anti-malaria, anti-hypertensive, anti-biotic, anti-diabetics, analgesics, injectables of various kinds, multi-vitamin seized by NAFDAC from the manufacturers, importers and distributors in Anambra State, as well as expired pharmaceutical products voluntarily handed over by Onitsha Bridgehead Drug Market Union and compliant companies in line with regulatory guidelines.
“If not for the vigilance and timely interventions of NAFDAC, these expired and unwholesome products would have found their way into circulation and their use would have resulted in therapeutic failure, drug resistance, adverse drug reactions, kidney failure, liver failure and death,” the DG stated.
The chairman of Onitsha Drug Market Union, Comrade Uche Eze, said that the members of the union voluntarily surrendered most of the drugs after imbibing the appeals by the executives of the union for them to abide by NAFDAC rules.
“The appeal we have been drumming to the ears of our union members on the dangers of selling or distributing unwholesome or expired drugs is yielding desired results; that is why they willingly surrendered most of the drugs, which are expired or had lost their efficacy due to their storage conditions.
“We would continue to work closely with NAFDAC since its regulation is for the benefit of everyone and it would make our market and the products we sell more credible both to our local and foreign customers,’’ Eze said.