The South East caucus of the House of Representatives has called on the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to prosecute producers and sellers of fake and substandard drugs, describing them as “merchants of death.”
Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, the Leader of the caucus, Igariwey Iduma Enwo (PDP, Ebonyi), condemned the activities of counterfeit drug dealers, stating that they pose a serious danger to public health and amount to economic sabotage.
Igariwey also urged NAFDAC to consider reopening the Onitsha drug market to allow legitimate businesses to resume operations.
Igariwey said: “Our attention has been drawn to the continued lock down of the Onitsha medicine market located at the Bridge head, in Onitsha, Anambra State.
“As a caucus, we unequivocally condemn the nefarious activities of unscrupulous traders and so-called businessmen and women, who peddle and engage in the business of production and distribution of fake, adulterated and unwholesome medications and drugs, which they pass on to the unsuspecting public.
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“To say the very least, their activities not only imperil public health, but have led directly or indirectly to loss of lives.
“To a lesser extent, these death merchants are also economic saboteurs since their clandestine activities are not open to government scrutiny and taxation.
“Caucus hereby commends NAFDAC for their intervention in halting the unconscionable activities of these merchants of death all over the country.
“However, while we are mindful of NAFDAC’s statutory role in curbing and stamping out of fake drugs in the country, we urge them to quickly arrest and prosecute those responsible for the production and distribution of these fake drugs.
“The wholesale and indefinite sealing of a market that caters for over ninety percent of the medication needs of the South East and South South regions, may not be the best approach, moreso when it is considered that many of the other traders in the same market are genuine business men and women.
“Therefore, to avoid a situation of visiting collective punishment on all the traders of Onitsha Bridgehead, which is currently in a state of lockdown, and considering the wider collateral effect of the lockdown on the health needs of the larger population, we urge NAFDAC to quickly resolve the situation by prosecuting the offenders, sanitizing the entire medical ecosystem, whether in Onitsha bridge head market, or in Aba, Lagos or Kano.
“This further requires the Nigerian Customs Services to stand up to their responsibilities by ensuring that our land, sea and air boarders are better protected, to nip in the bud the influx of fake and adulterated drugs into this country.”