National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has taken delivery of substandard and falsified goods seized by the Nigeria Customs Service at Onne Port in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
This was contained in a statement issued Sunday in Abuja by NAFDAC’s resident media consultant, Mr Olusayo Akintola.
According to the statement, the Director-General, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, received the items on Saturday.
The consignment include 11 containers of various unregistered or banned pharmaceutical products and four containers of unwholesome tomato paste.
The handover was conducted by the comptroller-general of Nigeria Customs Service as part of ongoing institutional collaboration between the two agencies.
Among the seized items were 1.3 million bottles of codeine syrup, a highly controlled prescription medicine and 12.6 million tablets of tramadol, a highly addictive painkiller.
Also listed were 9.3 million tablets of substandard and falsified branded diclofenac, a prescription drug used to treat osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Additionally, 280 packs of falsified Hyergra (sildenafil citrate) used in managing erectile dysfunction and four containers of unregistered tomato paste were also confiscated.
The street value of the 16 seized containers is estimated at N20.5 billion.
Adeyeye commended the comptroller-general and the Nigeria Customs Service team for their role in combating the importation of illicit, substandard and unwholesome products.
She warned importers and their collaborators, both local and international, to desist from engaging in such illegal activities.
“Substandard, fake food and drug products will not be allowed access to our people under my watch,” she said, adding that threats and intimidation aimed at discouraging the agency’s staff would not succeed.
She called on Nigerians to support NAFDAC by reporting any suspected case of the manufacture, importation, distribution or sale of fake and substandard products through NAFDAC’s offices or official social media channels.
Adeyeye also highlighted the dangers of consuming such products, which include acute food poisoning, gastrointestinal illness, nutritional deficiencies, chronic organ damage and increased cancer risk.
She reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to strengthen inter-agency cooperation and evolve new strategies to safeguard public health. (NAN)
