NAFDAC destroys expired products worth N4.2bn in Anambra

On May 26, 2023

The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control says it has destroyed fake, substandard goods and products worth over N4.2 billion in Awka, Anambra State. Speaking on Friday at Aswama Dumpsite Umuzocha (by Anambra State secretariat complex), the site of the destruction, the Director-General of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, said the exercise was in line with the agency’s mandate of eradicating fake and other spurious NAFDAC regulated products and to stop them from circulating in Nigeria.

Represented at the event by the Head of Task Force team of the agency, Francis Ononiwu, she said the exercise was a combined South-East and South-South zonal destruction carried out periodically.

According to the agency, “The products were made up of spurious, counterfeited, substandard and falsified medicinal products, unwholesome processed food products and several other unsafe regulated products seized from various manufacturers, importers and distributors by the combined team of South-East and South-South zones,” it noted.

Some of the products include antibiotics, anti-hypertensive, anti-diabetic, anti-asthmatic, aphrodisiacs, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory, herbal remedies and psychoactive drugs. Others are banned drugs such as analgin, tramadol (above 100mg), gentamycin 280mg, and controlled substances like vaccines, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, cosmetics, chemicals and unwholesome food, among others.

Wumi/PUNCH