About N500 million worth of fake and expired goods, including drugs, foods cosmetics, among others, were destroyed on Wednesday by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
The Director-General of the agency, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, explained that while some of the goods were seized, others were voluntarily submitted to the agency.
She said the reason why the agency destroys such goods was to avoid their re-circulation back into the market.
The NAFDAC, during the destruction exercise on Wednesday, said the destroyed fake and expired goods worth over N500 million, adding that the exercise, which was held in Abuja, was an agency’s nationwide routine exercise.
This platform gathered that some of the goods that were destroyed include drugs made up of psychoactive and controlled substances like antibiotics, antihypertensive, antimalarials, herbal snuff and herbal remedies, and drugs confiscated from drug hawkers.
Others were food products such as Spaghetti, vegetable oil, and non-alcoholic beverages, including a 1 by 40ft container of unregistered Faurecia instant-powered milk that was handed over to the agency by the Nigeria Customs Services.
Also, part of the destroyed goods were cosmetics such as creams, lotion, and pomade, including skin-lightening creams seized from SPAS and beauty centres, chemicals such as fake insecticides and medical devices.
Other destroyed items were expired, and unwholesome products voluntarily handed over for destruction by complaint companies, Non-Governmental Organisations and the Association of Community Pharmacy of Nigeria.
Speaking during the exercise, the NAFDAC boss, who was represented by the NAFDAC Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Mr Francis Ononiwu, said, “I have said on several platforms that drug counterfeiting is an act of economic sabotage, and it also represents a serious threat to public health, and NAFDAC, under my watch, has been repositioned to fight this menace.
“The agency has adopted a proactive approach by engaging political, traditional, faith leaders, journalists and other Nigerians to sensitise their wards on the dangers of dealing with substandard and falsified medicine.
“I wish to use this medium to urge all and sundry to be on the lookout for spurious and counterfeit medicines, unwholesome foods and other regulated products and report same to NAFDAC.”
