Following the clampdown by the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on adulterated medicines and their distributors across the country, the agency said that the major three drug markets located in Idumota – Lagos state, Onitsha in Anambra state and Aba in Abia state are to remain sealed until it concludes ongoing operations in these places.
The Director General of NAFDAC Prof Mojisola Adeyeye who stated this during an interview on Channels Television yesterday, said that the agency’s enforcement team is engaged in a huge operation to try and rid the country of fake and adulterated medicines being distributed in the affected markets.
Due to the clampdown on fake medicines by NAFDAC’s enforcement team which included seizures and destruction of fake and adulterated medicines found in the shops, the agency sealed the affected markets in Lagos, Anambra and Abia and prevented further transactions there.
However, when asked how long the markets will remain closed, Adeyeye said that the sealed markets will only be reopened as soon as NAFDAC’s team finished its operations.
She said: “In Lagos, we hope to finish the operation within the week. For Onitsha and Aba drug markets, we are extending it further because it is a huge operation. For Onitsha, it is a very huge operation and for Aba we may conclude a little bit earlier.
“But that is not the only thing we are doing. We are going to make sure that our sister agency – Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) which is in charge of licensing anywhere drugs are sold and licensing the practitioners and the retailers take charge of the situation. We are going to work with PCN so that distributors will be given licences”.
The NAFDAC DG said that what is happening today in the country regarding flooding of fake and adulterated medicines, was as a result of a court action which the patent medicine dealers brought against PCN.
According to Adeyeye this litigation lasted for 10 years, but was resolved in February 2024.
She said that PCN that is supposed to be in charge of licensing drug distribution firms and practitioners could not perform their functions due to the encumbrances of the court action taken by the medicine dealers.
“This left a free space for fraudulent activities to thrive. So we have today millions of patent medicine dealers engaged in the business of drug distribution and sale,” she said..
