The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has on Thursday destroyed fake, expired and substandard products valued at N10.19 billion in Kano State.
The items weighing over 618 tonnes were destroyed at the Kalibawa disposal site along the Kano-Daura highway. The consignments were seized during enforcement operations in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoto and Zamfara States.
The NAFDAC Director-General, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, said the circulation of counterfeit and dangerous products pose serious threats to public health and would no longer be tolerated.
Professor Adeyeye, who was represented by the Director of NAFDAC’s North-West Zone, Nantim Dadi Mullah, said the agency’s mandate is to protect Nigerians by ensuring that all foods, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices and chemical products meet approved standards of safety, quality and efficacy.
She said the public destruction of the items also served as a strong warning to manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers that NAFDAC’s enforcement and surveillance systems have been strengthened to detect and curb unwholesome practices.
The destroyed items included counterfeit and expired antibiotics, antimalarial and antihypertensive drugs, analgesics, herbal medicines and controlled psychoactive substances, many of which pose grave risks to consumers.
Other products destroyed were adulterated vegetable oils, contaminated beverages, unsafe sachet water, substandard food condiments and falsified tomato paste among others
Representative of Kano state government during the activity, the Director of Pharmaceutical Services at the state Ministry of Health, Kamilu Yakasai, commended NAFDAC for the exercise, noting that destruction was necessary to prevent seized items from flooding markets in the state for the safety of the people in the state.
