Friday, September 12, 2025 - As part of the efforts to combat the influx of fake, adulterated and expired drugs in the country, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has seized phoney malaria drugs worth N1.2 billion.
Speaking to journalists, the director of Investigation and
Enforcement, Martin Dotun, lamented that despite efforts by the agency to rid
the country of fake drugs, unscrupulous traders still import counterfeit drugs
into the country for the consumption of unsuspecting members of the public.
According to Dotun, the imported fake and expired drugs were
concealed inside vehicle spare parts and were seized in Lagos.
“As part of their efforts to deceive our personnel, the
importer told NAFDAC officials who confronted them along Oshodi-Mile 2
Expressway that the vehicle contained spare parts, but when enforcement
officials trailed the vehicle to its destination, it was discovered that the
drugs were hidden among the supposed vehicle spare parts.
These are part of the follow-up series of operations, which
we started a few months ago with the raid of Aba, Onitsha and Idumota markets,
where we seized many drugs. And I can assure you that this will not stop until
the mandate from President Tinubu and NAFDAC DG, Dr Mojisola Adeyeye, to save
Nigerians from the menace of fake drugs is accomplished.
“You can imagine how many people these would have impacted
if these were not quickly seized, especially as they came with different fake
tags bearing different labels, as the label would have misled people into
buying them as anti-malaria drugs.”
“We shall not leave any stone unturned until we stamp out
such,” he noted.
Speaking earlier, the officer who led the operation on
August 29, 2025, Florence Uba, said the seized drugs were labelled with
different names.
“We saw the long truck loaded with supposed vehicle spare
parts. But I decided to follow the vehicle to the warehouse where they were
offloading the supposed vehicle spare parts. Though they tried to deceive us,
telling us that it was merely spare parts, we, however, saw that these 277
cartons of the drugs were inside them.
“On closer look, we saw they gave fake declaration while the
cartons carried different names, the packs of 277 carried different names, the
sachets of the drugs carried two different names, and until we do Laboratory
test, we are yet to know the exact contents of those sachets.
“We have here what they tagged Diclofenac potassium enteric
coated 50mg, Arthemeter/ lemufathrine 80/480 Mg-, Each tablet supposedly
contains Arthemeter/ lemufathrine 80/480 Mg until it is tested in the
laboratory.”
0 Comments