NAFDAC destroys items worth over 3bn

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control says it has destroyed substandard and falsified medicines, unsafe drugs and unwholesome food and chemicals worth N3bn in the last one year.

The agency also revealed that it had seized tramadol with a street value of N198bn and would set the products ablaze soon.

The Director General, NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, said this while delivering her speech at an event held in commemoration of her one year in office in Abuja on Friday.

Adeyeye said through the support of the Presidency, Office of the National Security Adviser and her incessant awareness campaign about the implications of absence of NAFDAC at the ports, NAFDAC was returned to the ports in May 2018 and improvements were soon recorded.

She said, “The agency has seized and destroyed substandard and falsified medicines and unsafe drugs worth over N3bn that included unwholesome foods and other unregulated products in the last one year.

“We intercepted and destroyed 25 containers of tramadol worth N1.7bn

“There is a plan underway to destroy more than 30 containers of tramadol and other unregistered products worth more than N198bn on the street. Three persons involved in the distribution of the banned tramadol have been arraigned at the Federal High Court in Lagos.”

The NAFDAC boss said had the tramadol infiltrated the Nigerian market, it would have caused a national security issue as youths addicted to the substance would have taken to violent crimes such as armed robbery and insurgency.

Adeyeye said when she took over at NAFDAC a year ago, the agency was in debt to the tune of N3.2bn, mainly due to the non-payment of withholding tax to the Federal Government.

She said the agency was able to clear the entire debt within one year due to proper financial management.

The NAFDAC boss added, “Our Ports Inspection Directorate had been able to recover N533m of evaded administrative charges from stakeholders unpaid from 2014 to 2017.

Adeyeye said NAFDAC under her leadership was able to clear a backlog of 6,000 applications for registration of products.

She said the agency would on December 15 begin online registration for drug and food approvals.

Source: PUNCH.