Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC Boss
The Director General of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye said the agency has destroyed unwholesome medicines, expired processed food items and cosmetics worth over N50 billion in the last five months.
To help NAFDAC continue and win the fight against the influx of fake consumables into the country, the Prof also appealed to the National Assembly to quickly pass the Counterfeit Medical Products Bill. She said the passage will strengthen the war against offenders.
According to a statement by NAFDAC’s Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, in Lagos on Sunday, Adeyeye said N1,429,580,683.00 worth of unwholesome drug and food products were destroyed in Awka, capital of Anambra State in March for South-South and Southeast operations.
In the same month, she recalled that such dangerous products worth N613,300,290.00 were destroyed in Kano while the agency moved to Gombe in May to destroy seized counterfeited and expired medicines, and food items worth N515,732.587 mopped up in the Northeast by the Investigation and Enforcement officials of the agency led by Barrister Kingsley Ejiofor.
The DG also disclosed that fake and expired medicines, and food products worth N2,482,600,290 seized in the Southwest were destroyed in Shagamu, Ogun State last week. She appealed to the judiciary to always apply tougher penalty against those found guilty of drug counterfeiting, expired processed food and repugnant cosmetics to serve as deterrent to others. She lamented that perpetuators of the illicit trade more often than not do capitalize on the weak laws in the land to wreak havoc on the nation’s health system.
