National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has sealed over 3,000 drug shops in Lagos and confiscated 24 truckloads of fake drugs in Anambra and Abia states.
The Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, who disclosed this, told peddlers that ‘enough is enough’ after the discovery of two more massive warehouses stocked with fake and expired medicines in Aba, Idumota, and Onitsha.
The agency, last week, uncovered a major operations depot dealing in expired and falsified drugs at Umumeje village, Osisioma Ngwa area of Abia State, where the illegal operations were being run from multiple buildings near the Ariaria International Market.
It said the expired medicines were repackaged and revalidated for re-sale, posing a significant health risk to consumers.The Director General explained that the seized items consisted of expired potassium chloride, allergy medications, immune boosters, and cholesterol treatments, among others. During the raid, some individuals were arrested, but the prime suspect remained at large.
The operation, which commenced on Monday, February 10, 2025, has already led to many shop raids, revealing a disturbing volume of adulterated and substandard medications worth billions of naira.
REACTING to the development, the Labour Party (LP) lawmakers in the National Assembly endorsed the actions by NAFDAC but cautioned against harming honest traders.
The leader of the LP caucus in the House of Representatives, Afam Ogene, commended NAFDAC’s efforts to sanitise the sector but urged the agency to ensure that traders uninvolved in illegal drug sales were not unfairly affected.
The LP caucus made its position known in a statement signed by Ogene and released to reporters in Awka, yesterday.It said: “While the LP Reps commend NAFDAC for its efforts at tackling the menace of fake and adulterated drugs, we enjoin them to go about the assignment in adherence with global best practices, such that legitimate and innocent traders are not caught in the quagmire.”
IN his reaction, a former Governor of Anambra State and Labour Party presidential candidate in 2023, Peter Obi, appealed for the immediate reopening of unaffected markets in the Head Bridge Market area, following its total closure by regulatory and security agencies.
The market was shut down due to suspected illegal drug trading in one of its sections, Ogbo Ogwu Market. While Obi strongly condemned the sale of illicit and counterfeit drugs, he criticised the blanket closure of neighbouring markets that were not involved in the illegal trade.
Obi, who wrote via his X handle, highlighted that several markets, including Rod, Allied and Tools, Plumbing Materials, Timber, Surgical, and Provision Markets, were collaterally affected by the shutdown, despite having no direct link to the alleged drug activities.
“The continued closure of these markets is unjustified and is causing severe economic hardship for thousands of traders and their families, especially during this difficult time in our country,” Obi stated.
