In line with its mandate to safeguard the health of the nation, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has destroyed total, over N120bn worth of seized products in six months (July-December) in the six geo-political zones and FCT.
Resident Media Consultant of NAFDAC, Sayo Akintola announced this in a statement on Sunday.
Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye in her Christmas and New Year message to Nigerians emphasized the need to eat safe and stay safe during the festive period.
She reiterated the need for Nigerians to always procure food and drinks in outlets with identifiable addresses and locations to ease the Agency’s track and trace obligation, adding that medicines and packaged food products that do not have NAFDAC number should be avoided.
She disclosed that the Agency had stormed supermarkets in the big cities across the country such as Lagos, Port Harcourt, Aba, Ibadan, Kaduna, and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, to apprehend manufacturers and merchants of fake drugs and unwholesome foods, while products running into billions of Naira had been confiscated in the last three months of renewed enforcement.
On Wednesday, December 11, 2024, the Agency destroyed expired, unregistered drugs worth N11 billion in Ibadan, Oyo State. In November, the Agency seized N300m worth of fake medicines during a raid of Tyre Village, Trade Fair Complex, Lagos State. Officers of the Agency also burst counterfeit alcohol packaging centres and seized items worth N2billion in Lagos. This followed reports of illegal revalidation of expired alcoholic beverages at the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos.
The war against substandard and falsified medicines and unwholesome food and drinks moved to Nasarawa State where officers of the Agency, led by the Director of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Directorate, Mr Kenneth Azikiwe stormed the Karu market situated at the border between FCT and Nasarawa State where bags of repackaged expired rice were confiscated by the Agency. Products worth about N5 billion were seized during the raid.
Also, in Nasarawa state, the Agency sealed a factory and eight shops for packaging and distributing counterfeit rice, valued at approximately ₦5 billion. The operation, conducted on December 19, targeted a facility named Ninjur Ventures on Abacha Road, Karu.
It would seem as though these merchants of substandard and fake products are seizing the opportunity of the anticipated high level of consumer purchases and consumption during the yuletide. At Wuse and Garki markets in Abuja last Friday the agency confiscated over 1,600 bags of counterfeit rice worth about N5 billion where counterfeit rice was being repackaged in branded bags.
Prof Adeyeye maintained that only safe, quality, and wholesome food products should be available to Nigerians during the yuletide and beyond. She specifically instructed that those counterfeiting popular brands of rice should be arrested and their products removed from the market.
Simultaneously, a total of 150 shops at Eziukwu Market in Aba, a suburb of Abia State, were shut down following an operation by the Agency.
As the mop-up operation was going on in the FCT and Nasarawa State, NAFDAC was carrying out a two-day operation in the Aba market on December 16 and 17, 2024. During the operation, the agency uncovered large-scale production and distribution of fake and expired goods including beverages, carbonated drinks, wines, spirits, vegetable oils, and revalidated food items such as noodles, powdered milk, and yoghurt with a market value of N5bn.
The Agency on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, also destroyed expired, unregistered, counterfeit, and smuggled products valued at ₦10,991,458,374.60.
The destroyed items, collected from five states in the Southwest Zone (excluding Lagos) and Kwara State in the North Central Zone due to its proximity, were incinerated in Ibadan.
In total, over N120bn worth of seized products were destroyed by the Agency in six months (July-December) in the six geo-political zones and FCT.
The DG however, stated that the Agency would not rest on its oars until the merchants of death are forced out of operation, warning that the Agency would make it hard for them to operate freely and endanger the health of innocent consumers.
‘The coming year will be tough for the people that prioritize money over the wellbeing of their fellow human beings by compromising quality of medicines and food products in the country’, she said.
She urged consumers to consistently scrutinise medicines and branded drinks carefully to distinguish genuine products from counterfeits before consumption. “NAFDAC wishes to advise that the members of the public should be vigilant during this yuletide season.
‘’We are using this medium to appeal to Nigerians to buy only NAFDAC registered drinks from reputable and licenced retailers, bars and supermarkets. If the product is being sold well below its normal price, or doesn’t seem to include normal taxes on liquors, then it is probably fake. Check for poor quality packaging, spelling mistakes and unusually shaped bottles,’’ she said.
