Director-General National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye has said N2,000,000,000,000 worth of tramdaol was seized across the country.
She also said unwholesome foods and products in the region of N4,000,260, 000 were also seized by the agency.
The NAFDAC boss announced this Tuesday during her fourth year anniversary in office in Abuja.
She said: “It is also worthy to mention here that, following my relentless efforts which took the agency back to the ports in May, 2018 (all thanks to the Office of the National Security Adviser); coupled with rigorous inspection and enforcement activities; the agency in collaboration with Nigerian Customs Service has seized and destroyed SFs, unwholesome foods and other unregulated products worth four billion, two hundred and sixty thousand naira (N4,000,260,000) in exercises across the nation and Tramadol with estimated street value of about two trillion naira(N2,000,000,000,000).
“The impact is there. Most of the Tramadol merchants have gone underground. They have been almost decimated, leaving only few of them there. And we will continue to pursue them until they turn a new leave and abandon the dangerous trade. The street value of Falsified medicines and unwholesome food products and cosmetics seized and destroyed across the country by the agency between March and August of 2021 alone stood at over N5billion.”
On the elimination of substandard, falsified medicines (SFs) and related others, Adeyeye said the agency had been proactive and vigilant.
“This is the crux of our regulatory activities and involves almost all the technical directorates, namely: Investigation and Enforcement, Ports Inspection, Pharmacovigilance and Post Market Surveillance, Laboratory Services, Chemical Inspections, Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Narcotics and Controlled Substances as well as Veterinary Medicines and Allied Products Directorate.
“The agency has been highly proactive and vigilant in this regard. In our determined effort to combat SFs, Illicit Drugs and chemicals as well as unwholesome foods; the Agency has deployed multifaceted strategies which among others include: enforcement of regulation and control of APIs imported into the country to ensure they meet the required standards for manufacturing of drugs; reduction in Number of registered imported products and encouraging local manufacturing and innovation and overhaul of Pre-Shipment Clean Report of Inspection and Analysis of Imported Medicines and other NAFDAC Regulated,” she said.
