USAID-Donated Drugs Found In Lagos, Abia Markets — NAFDAC

USAID-Donated Drugs Found In Lagos, Abia Markets — NAFDAC

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control on Wednesday stated it seized 87 truckloads of banned, expired and substandard medicinal merchandise , together with USAID and UNFPA-donated antiretroviral capsules , male and lady condoms, amongst others.

NAFDAC’s Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who discovered this on Wednesday, brought that counterfeiters have been after her lifestyles and people of her workers.

Adeyeye, who briefed State House correspondents on the Presidential Villa in Abuja, stated , “I instructed you approximately the tried homicide approximately six months ago. One of our body of workers individuals in Kano had his baby abducted due to the fact he changed into doing his job. Fortunately, the kid escaped.

“For me, I actually have policemen residing in my residence 24/7 in Abuja and Lagos. I don’t have a lifestyles .

“I can’t cross everywhere with out police escorts. That’s now no longer my manner of residing , however I don’t have a desire due to the fact we need to keep our united states . Nonetheless, I additionally use not unusualplace sense.”

NAFDAC is presently on a national crackdown on illicit drug trade, which noticed it raiding the united states ’s 3 most important open drug markets of Ariaria and Eziukwu in Aba, Bridge Head Market in Onitsha and Idumota Drug Market in Lagos.

The marketing campaign is a part of NAFDAC’s National Action Plan 2.0 (2023-2027) to put off counterfeit medicines, enhance regulatory compliance and protect public health.

She affirmed that the operation exposed stunning violations of drug garage and distribution regulations, together with diverted donated clinical supplies, massive portions of USAID and UNFPA-donated antiretroviral capsules and condoms intended to aid Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS reaction have been discovered expired and repackaged for sale.

These lifestyles -saving medications, she brought , have been both improperly saved or intentionally resold for profit, undermining worldwide efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.

While the integrity and legality of a number of the goods have been now no longer in question, the garage surroundings changed into harsh and will denature the goods , she defined .

“Some of the goods (seized) are massive portions of donated antiretroviral capsules , expired lady , and male condoms through USAID, UNFPA.

“Large portions of pharmaceutical merchandise , together with vaccines, prescription- best medicines, etc. These merchandise have been located stacked in toilets, beneathneath the staircase, and at the rooftop at very excessive temperatures with out attention for bloodless chain garage requirements.

“Oxytocin injection and numerous thermolabile merchandise saved beneathneath extraordinarily warm temperatures, sufficient to denature any proper pharmaceuticals.

“The hassle isn’t always best approximately the originality of the goods however approximately the surroundings and garage . Products endorsed to be saved at -8°C, -2°C to 8°C have been discovered on this surroundings ,” she noted.

Among the located items have been massive portions of managed capsules inclusive of TAFRADOL ( currently banned in India after BBC undercover publicity of the enterprise production and exporting diverse illicit capsules to Africa, together with Nigeria), Tramadol, Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), Nitrazepam and Diazepam.

“The extent of narcotics and managed materials seized from every of those places is sufficient to destabilise the united states safety -wise,” she brought , announcing the organisation additionally discovered good sized portions of banned, unregistered, expired merchandise withinside the plumbing and wooden plank sections of the Head Bridge.

“Warehouses stuffed to the brim with such capsules indexed above, with out windows, and wherein the temperature will be as excessive as forty °C, a excessive ability for chemical degradation of the goods into much less powerful and poisonous degradants,” the NAFDAC DG defined .

Adeyeye, who defined the operation because the organisation ’s maximum substantial in history, positioned the cost of medication seized at N1tn, announcing post- evaluation figures will be plenty higher.

“It is N1tn. It can be a real understatement for now, however while we end the operation, we can have a terrific idea,” she clarified.

Commencing on February 9, 2025, it worried 1, one hundred safety operatives, together with army personnel, police, and Department of State Services agents.

According to her, the safety forces cordoned off the markets to save you investors from concealing or smuggling unlawful merchandise . So far, forty arrests had been made, with suspects going through prosecution.

“During this exercise, NAFDAC succeeded in putting off from stream 87 truckloads of banned, expired, unregistered, suspected falsified and substandard clinical merchandise from the 3 markets eliminated from over 7,000 stores screened as of today, February 26, 2025.

“A database of those stores and the offences dedicated has been created for similarly steps. More than forty arrests had been made, to be able to be observed through prosecution,” Adeyeye stated .

She defined similarly info of the operation, announcing : “The screening of stores ended on Tuesday, February 25, in Idumota and Aba as stores with non-violative or non-NAFDAC regulated merchandise are being reopened. Owners of such stores are being requested to signal undertakings agreeing to relocate to the unique Coordinated Wholesale Centre on completion.

“Meanwhile, the operation keeps in Onitsha Head Bridge till subsequent week, while a comparable procedure of starting the stores to non-violative save proprietors and charging the violative ones as a result will commence.

“After the operation, NAFDAC and the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria plan the relocation of those markets in the subsequent twelve months to the scheduled Coordinated Wholesale Centres. There could be six such CWCs throughout the united states , representing one consistent with geopolitical zone.”

The anti-drug leader stated her efforts had positioned her and her body of workers individuals withinside the line of assassins’ fire.

She referred to as on safety businesses to defend them amid dangers as she recommended the dying penalty for the ones generating and promoting faux capsules withinside the united states .