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Tag: NAFDAC

  • NAFDAC arrests prof for making ‘false claims’

    NAFDAC arrests prof for making ‘false claims’

    The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has arrested Prof. Dayo Oyekole, the Chief Consultant of Mosebolatan Holistic Lifecare International for allegedly making false claims with the company’s products.

    The company has hospitals at 11 Ire-Akari Estate Road, Isolo, Lagos, with its head office at Mosebolatan Plaza at Ogbere-Tioya, off Olorunsogo Express Bridge, Ibadan, Oyo State.

    NAFDAC’s Director-General Dr Paul Orhii said the agency arrested the natural health practitioner for allegedly faking NAFDAC’s registration number and making false claims, including cure for terminal diseases.

    Orhii said: “NAFDAC discovered an advertisement in the Sunday Sun edition of June 15, 2014, where Prof. Dayo Oyekole of Mosebolatan Holistic Lifecare Centre placed an unauthorised advertisement of a range of herbal products with spurious claims of total cure and deliverance of various ailments.

    “Upon investigation, a few of the products (four of 14) were listed by NAFDAC between 2005 and 2007.  Since then, the listing of the products has not been renewed, as required by law. Ten of the products have no history of listing with NAFDAC, but are openly displayed for sale and dispensing in his clinics.”

    The NAFDAC chief said unauthorised advertisement and false claims among herbal medicine practitioners had been a source of worry to the agency.

    He said: “Desperately ill people and unsuspecting patients have been lured to patronise them, believing that they have NAFDAC approval. The agency …has observed the proliferation of unauthorised advertisement of herbal products in print and electronic media. Most of these adverts are misleading and carry false claims of treatment and cure for various ailments, including the treatment of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, kidney diseases, drug addiction, mental sickness, marital problems, bad dreams, examination failure, asthmas, cancer, prostate enlargement among others.

    “While some of these adverts carry NAFDAC numbers on the products advertised, investigations have shown that most of the products have not been submitted to NAFDAC for listing.

    “The agency’s policy for the listing of herbal products does not include the evaluation of the products, but the products are listed based on the history of their safe use and analysed to ensure it is not toxic for human use.

    “It is necessary to emphasise that therapeutic evaluation of the products is made by NAFDAC, hence the requirement for all listed herbal products to carry a disclaimer: ‘This claim has not been evaluated by NAFDAC’.”

    Orhii said NAFDAC would henceforth treat such violations seriously.

    He urged the media – print and electronic – not to accept advertisement for NAFDAC regulated products that do not have the agency’s approval.

     

     

  • ALGON mourns Akunyili, Bayero

    ALGON mourns Akunyili, Bayero

    The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) said yesterday that it sympathised with the Akunyili family on the death of the former Director-General of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Dora Akunyili.

    The association in a statement by its Secretary-General, Mr. Shittu Bamaiyi Yakmut, said: “We recall her passion for a better Nigeria, which she demonstrated in her national assignments.

    “As a lecturer, she expressed her desire with matching actions to transform her students at the citadel of learning. In her national call to duty at the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), Mrs. Akunyili towered as one of the most forthright public servants with impeccable character, accountability and prudence.

    “As the Director-General of NAFDAC, she sanitised the health sector as one of the crusaders against fake drugs and ensured zero tolerance for fake drugs. She became a terror to fake drug cartels. It is instructive to note that we at the local governments were more touched by her selfless service, especially by such courageous fight, awareness and advocacy of the grassroots in the battle against fake drugs.

    “The local governments benefited more from her health and safety intervention due to the limited knowledge at the disposal of the rural populace concerning fake drug and administration. Her effort brought hope to the sick. She was a symbol of hope for women in government.

    “Also as a one-time Minister of Information and Communications, she became an Amazon and a face of a new Nigeria by promoting the Nigerian project when she initiated the Re-brand Nigeria: ‘Nigeria: Good People, Great Nation’.

    “Prof. Akunyili was a change agent, whose model of patriotism illuminated in our hearts at the grassroots. She believed in the Nigerian project and championed such belief till death.

    Her contributions at the National Conference resonated in our hearts even in the wake of her battle with the ailment that finally took her life.

    “We pray to the Almighty God to grant her eternal rest and give her family and all Nigerians the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”

    ALGON said it also received with shock the passing away of one of the revered traditional rulers, the Emir of Kano Alhaji Ado Abdullahi Bayero.

    It said: “The news of the demise of the monarch is not only a loss to Kano State but also to Nigeria, considering his selfless and fatherly role in the socio-political development of the country.”

    ALGON said it felt affected by the death of Emir Bayero when viewed from the backdrop that the late Emir started his public life in the defunct Kano Native Authority as a clerical assistant.

    “It is disheartening that the late traditional ruler passed on when the country is facing challenges and when his fatherly advice as an elder statesman would have been useful in tackling our challenges,” the association added.

    It wished his family and all Nigerians the courage to bear the loss.

     

  • Ailment that fell Akunyili

    Ailment that fell Akunyili

    A recent report on Nigeria by the Cervical Cancer Free Coalition (CCFC) tagged “crisis card” notes that about 26 Nigerian women die of cervical cancer daily, and with the recent death of a former Information Minister and ex Director-General of NAFDAC, Mrs Dora Akunyili by cervical cancer, Assistant Editor, Investigations, JOKE KUJENYA, examines the prevalence of the ailment in the country. 

    EACH year, new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed worldwide. And despite non availability of reliable statistics, Nigeria reportedly has the 10th highest number of deaths from cervical cancer globally.

    In January 2014, the Society for Family Health (SFH), reported that cervical cancer killed about 9,659 women in the country. Elaborating on the development, Mr. Bright Ekweremadu, Managing Director, SFH, said most women get Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), infection at least once in 50 years. He said it is only a few of them that develop cervical cancer. According to him, next to breast cancer, cervical cancer, which claims the life of about 9,659 women annually, is the second most frequent cancer among women in Nigeria.

    He also noted that about 24.8percent of women in the populace harbour the HPV, the causative virus of cervical cancer in women including genital warts in both men and women.

    Experts say that cancer of the cervix, usually caused by HPV, is often transmitted through sexual intercourse. Sadly, it has continued unabated killing women in Nigeria.

    On the morning of June 8th, news began to filter across the globe that Mrs. Dora Akunyili, had succumbed to death, after spending four weeks in a Specialist Cancer Hospital, Bangalore, India, where she had gone for treatment, due to cervical cancer. Nigeria stood still.

    A few months prior to that, Nigerians were jolted to see a shaggy picture of the once robust Akunyili when she got up to make some comments during a session at the ongoing National Conference in Abuja. However, few days later, she had said “I just need to put on some weight. There is a saying in Igboland that says, let the sickness take the flesh but leave the bones because with time, the bones would grow new flesh. I just came out of major sickness, for which I thank the Almighty God for delivering me. I know that God did that for a purpose, this national conference being part of that purpose. I am well now but only need time to put on more weight. Cancer is indeed a killer disease. Please remember me in your prayers…”

    Further reports have it that she had stayed back in the country about 48hours after which she also allegedly succumbed to bouts of coma before she was eventually taken to India for proper treatment.

    As the nation mourns the late Mrs Dora Akunyili, considerable number of all women who die of cervical cancer live in just five countries namely: Brazil, Bangladesh, India, China, and Nigeria, in addition to Africa being identified as the most dangerous place to be a woman with cervical cancer.

    According to experts, cervical cancer is cancer that forms in the cervix, the lower narrow part of the uterus (womb), often referred to as the neck of the womb, and it is the most common cancer in women under 35. They said that while the main cause remains the HPV virus, early cell changes can be found through screening.

    Ekweremadu, speaking at the formal presentation of Cryotherapy Machine for the detection of cancer by SFH in Abuja, also said cervical cancer occurs in midlife and that most cases are found in women younger than 50. He also added that it rarely occurs in women younger than 20 while women over 50 are still at risk.

    Prof. Shima Gyoh, Chairman, Board of Trustees, SFH, explained that although cervical cancer was transmitted through sexual intercourse, it usually manifests in women between 40 years and above. He noted that it spreads via uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells in the cervix, the narrow opening of the womb into the vagina. Noting that it has been recognised as the most common female cancer in developing countries with approximately 500,000  new cases and 250,000 deaths occurring each year across the world; experts say a woman dies of cervical cancer every two minutes!

    A recent Cervical Cancer Crisis Card launched globally by the Cervical Cancer Free Coalition (CCFC), put the yearly death count from the five top-ranked countries at 137,817, compared to an estimated 275,000 annual total deaths from 500,000 new cases recorded in the 50 countries  surveyed in past years. The CCFC Crisis Card rated global countries according to the number of deaths from cervical cancer and the mortality rate from the disease. It states that Nigeria and 49 other countries were selected to provide a snapshot of the world and reflect geographic, economic and population variations.

    Also based on 2013 reports from health journals, cervical cancer is the second commonest female cancer worldwide with 529,000 cases and 275, 000 deaths per year with an estimated 25,000 new cases of the ailment making Nigeria to record 480 cases per week, according to a Consultant Obstetrics/Gynaecologist, Usmanu Danfodiyo of the University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto.

    Based on a study conducted in Ibadan, aimed at determining the level of cervical cancer awareness in the city, of the total 172 female respondents between ages 15 and 65, a considerable 123 of them representing about 71.5 percent, knew about cervical cancer screening, about 12, 9.8percent had done the Pap smear test, and out of which nine of the 75.0percent have had the disease detected in their bodies.

    “The major challenge in Nigeria, as we had in the incidence of HIV/AIDS is that, we, doctors, medical practitioners, are not, in line with the ethics of our discipline, allowed to disclose the status of our patients without their consent. It does not however preclude the alarming fact that scores of Nigeria women daily attend the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), and indeed, other teaching hospitals across the country, plus other centres of course, for treatments of cervical cancer. And this particular cancer is dubbed invasive because of its peculiar nature of attacking adjacent tissue; i.e., having or showing a tendency to spread from the point of origin to adjacent tissue, as some other cancers do, said a Consultant Oncologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.

    In its diagnoses of cervical cancer, the American Cancer Society estimates that 11,270 were made by the end of 2009 with over 4,000 women in the country dead from the ailment yearly. In UK, over 3,000 women, according to the National Health Service (NHS), were yearly diagnosed with cervical cancer causing 941 of deaths in 2007. Also, the WHO said at least 200,000 women worldwide die of cervical cancer each year. The agency however added that if the HPV vaccine is administered globally, hundreds of thousands of women lives each year could be saved.

    And according to the CCFC projections, by 2030, almost half a million women will die of cervical cancer, with over 98 percent of these deaths expected to occur in the developing low and middle- income countries.

    Prevalence rates

    Health experts say that although the condition is readily detectable in its premalignant stage, cervical cancer remains the second most common cancer in Nigeria and fifth in the United Kingdom (UK). Among the Nigerian female population, it is said to be the most prevalent. In 2007 alone in Nigeria, it was reported that 36.59 million women aged 15-44years were at risk of developing cervical cancer. However, there are 9,922 cases diagnosed annually with 8,030 deaths. HPV prevalence was at 24.8percent as incidence of cervical cancer in Nigeria was at 250 per 100,000 women.

    In the outcome of a survey conducted by three professors of health in Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, they noted that of the total 260 women administered with questionnaires, the results showed that the respondents displayed fair knowledge of cervical cancer. 43.5percent of the also showed they knew about screening while their knowledge of risk factors was low. About 80.4percent of them also exhibited a generally good attitude to cervical cancer screening. Sadly, their level of practice was 15.4percent poor.

    Quoting World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations (UN), the World Bank and IARC Globocan, the CCFC said the mortality rate and death count highlight the inequity women face depending on where they live showing that the top ten countries with the highest cervical cancer mortality rates are found in Africa with Sub-Saharan Africa grappling with 22 percent of all cervical cancer cases worldwide.

    The CCFC in its data shows that more women die of cervical cancer in India, relatively ranked No 1, than other parts of the world. Next is Zambia with 38.6 deaths per 100,000 as the second highest mortality rate. Australia has 1.4 deaths per 100,000 standing as the lowest. Norway ranks 50 recording the least number of deaths. Nigeria on the records, rank 10th having a cervical cancer mortality rate of 22.9 deaths per 100,000.

    It is also reported that over fifty percent of cervical cancer diagnoses occur in women from ages 35 to 54, with only a fragment of about 20percent in women over 65years of age. The average age of diagnosis is also said to be 48years even as about 15percent of women develop cervical cancer between the ages of 20 and 30. It is reportedly very rare in women below age 20. However, many young women with early abnormal changes who do not have regular examinations are at high risk for localised cancer by age 40, and for invasive cancer by age 50.

    Risk Factors and Causes

    knowledge of cervical cancer is considered abysmal among Nigerian women. This factor is similarly responsible for prevalence of precancerous lesions and cervical cancer in South African women. And while it is medically established that HPV is the main risk factor for cervical cancer in women, it is also affirmed that the salient cause sexual interaction with an infected person.

    CCFC, Executive Director, Dr. Jennifer Smith, in a report, explained that generally, cancer is often the off shoot of the uncontrolled division of abnormal cells. Most of the cells in the human body have a set lifespan; when they die new cells are produced to replace them. But abnormal cells usually have two problems. One is they don’t die. And secondly, they continue mutating. Then, this result in an excessive accumulation of cells which eventually form a lump also called a tumour. Till date, scientists have not been able to decipher why cells become cancerous. This is why it is vital for people to know the increased risks of developing cervical cancer.

    “As it has been medically proven, cervical cancer, in its stages of growth, begins at the neck of the uterus, that is, the womb. It then divides into microscopic cells which can only be viewed through a microscope.”

     

    Symptoms and types

    WHILE cervical cancer is easily spoken about, not many are aware of its varying types. It is, however, important to know this so that appropriate treatment could be applied in each presentation of cervical cancer.

    A Professor of Oncological Gynaecology at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Dr Rosa, said knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer, a preventable disease, is very low while the toll of ailment on Nigerian women is very high. She thus argued that there is need for cervical cancer in Nigeria and in sub-Saharan to be given the same priority as HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other forms of communicable diseases. She said it is high time for governments in these regions to be responsive to the wake-up call.

    With other health officials, cervical cancer symptoms are given as:

                 Bleeding between periods

                 Bleeding after sexual intercourse

                 Bleeding in post-menopausal     women

                 Discomfort during sexual                              intercourse

                 Smelly vaginal discharge

                 Vaginal discharge tinged with blood

                 Pelvic pain and a few others…

    The experts said it is important for women to be alert to these warning signs. In fact, during the early stages, those affected may even experience no symptoms at all. It is thus vital again for sexually active women to have habitual cervical smear tests. In all, it is important to recognise cervical cancer as a completely preventable disease.

    Prevention and treatment

    According to Dr Smith, cervical cancer, no matter how aggressive in the latter stages, is actually a preventable disease. Sadly, so many deaths are recorded across the world.

    She noted “It is a disease that can radically be reduced through vaccination, screening and public enlightenment. And to help our women go for screening and vaccination, it is also the collective responsibility of everyone to help them know about the disease, citing Australia’s successful control of the disorder to the country’s successful rollout of a comprehensive package of HPV vaccines, treatment and prevention.

    Professor Isaac Adewole, Vice Chancellor of  University of Ibadan, a medical doctor said “Early screening methods and prompt treatment are critical interventions that can save women’s lives.  What is required of us all is a renewed commitment to saving the lives of our women and preventing a preventable death from the disease.”

     

  • Akunyili was a dogged fighter, says Afe Babalola

    Akunyili was a dogged fighter, says Afe Babalola

    Frontline lawyer, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), has said Nigeria will miss former Director-General of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the late Prof Dora Akunyili.

    Babalola said the late Akunyili would be remembered for her fighting spirit, doggedness and large heartedness.

    The former Minister of Information and Communication died in an Indian hospital on Saturday. She was 59.

    In a tribute, titled: Dora Akunyili: Sunset at Noon.

    Babalola said their paths crossed in 2001 during her crusade against fake drugs, when she was NAFDAC’s boss.

    As the agency’s lawyer then, Babalola said he noticed Akunyili’s doggedness and uprightness even in the face of an attempt on her life.

    He said: “What stand this professor of Pharmacy out are her patriotism, determination, selflessness and strength of character to use her office and, indeed, her all, for the good of the majority.

    “I was very close to the departed star, as the lawyer to NAFDAC during her tenure as DG. NAFDAG and I affirm that she was bold and courageous: for it is only a bold, courageous, determined, focused and selfless person that will continue a battle after she escaped death by the whiskers after the assassin’s bullet pierced her head-gear on Boxing Day in 2003.

    “After the unsuccessful attempted murder, an unperturbed and unruffled Dora Akunyili quickly put that behind her and continued her crusade as if nothing has happened. What a woman of virtue!

    “She pursued the case of her attempted murder with vigour and verve. As her lawyer, we prosecuted the case from the High Court to the Court of Appeal. Now, we are at the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, Dora is no more to witness the outcome of the appeal at the Supreme Court.”

    Babalola said it was after Prof Akunyili mounted the saddle as NAFDAC DG that the agency was shot into the limelight.

    According to him, the late Akunyili brought honour, performance and panache to her office, following meticulously every case that NAFDAC handled and ensuring offenders were duly prosecuted.

    Babalola, who is also the founder of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), recalled how he offered Prof Akunyili the post of pioneer Vice-Chancellor of ABUAD.

    The frontline lawyer said she gladly accepted the offer five years ago, but later turned it down following a political appointment she got from the Federal Government.

     

  • Akunyili: painful exit of a heroine

    SIR: At a time when Nigeria is at crossroads in all fronts, when young innocent girls are in captivity because of irresponsible leadership, a woman of great virtue was snatched away by death. It is not as if other notable women have not died in Nigeria, but this death affects both the poor and the rich, freeborn and slave.  Before she assumed office as the Director General of National Agency for Food and Drugs and Administration (NAFDAC), every person, every home and every family was in dilemma as to whether a drug was fake or original. Many persons have died of counterfeit drugs that were either locally manufactured or imported. At a time, all hope was almost lost about knowing whether Nigeria would ever be freed from clusters of fake drugs. Behold, a woman of humble background came to the rescue, she took the bull by the horn, fought the fake drug barons at the expense of her life. Indeed, Dora was an incredible Ambassador at home and abroad – to see her laughingly correcting the ills that have befallen our drugs and foods was a joy to behold. The charming face, the hallmark smiles and charismatic look are now gone! The loquacious rebranding agent has succumbed to the cold hands of death. While we mourn Dora and commiserate with her family, there are issues that should interest government and concerned individuals.

    If Dora was denied education as a girl, if she was abducted and kept away perpetually and the government did not act to bring her back in time, we would not have known an anti-drug Czar who delivered Nigeria from fake and adulterated medicines.  Undoubtedly, among the Chibok School girls is a Dora, who will play vital role in our nation building in the nearest future.  The government cannot continue to be sleeping over these girls, real and timely efforts must be made to rescue them and reduce the grief of our nation. Beyond policy-making, a more concrete attention must be given to the education and safety of girl child in every nook and cranny of the nation.  The President should show leadership by applying the rules to punish those whose negligence led to the abduction of the Chibok girls in the first instance. He should take a further step by bringing succour to the traumatized parents who only feel the pain.

    That Professor Dora died of cancer is not as pitiable as the fact that she could not receive treatment in Nigeria where she laboured hard to give a better image. Thankfully, Akunyili had the grace and means to treat the illness abroad. However, there are number of unknown people suffering in silence who could not afford diagnosis not to talk of treatment. The government should be ashamed that in spite of billions of naira being wasted daily, as a nation, we could not boast of state of the art cancer treatment centres. What a shame!  It is high time the government woke up and embark on aggressive campaign of awareness, screening and diagnosis. Nigeria can afford to treat her citizens afflicted with cancer free of charge.

    Dora Akunyili’s death is a big loss to Nigeria, she will be remembered for forthrightness, selflessness, patriotism and efficient service delivery. To me, she was a heroine who should be celebrated even after death!

     

    • Tola Osunnuga

    Ago-Iwoye

     

  • Ex-Information Minister, Akunyili, succumbs to cancer

    Ex-Information Minister, Akunyili, succumbs to cancer

    After a two-year battle, former Minister for Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili, yesterday succumbed to cancer.

    Akunyili died at 59 in an Indian Specialist Cancer Hospital.

    The people of Agulu in Anaocha local government area of Anambra State and the family represented by former Anambra State Governor, Chief Peter Obi, announced her death.

    Confirming the death of the former minister and NAFDAC Director General, Obi disclosed she gave up the ghost in the early hours of yesterday morning in the hospital in India.

    Obi said: “On behalf of the Akunyili’s family, I wish to officially confirm the death of Prof. (Mrs.) Dora Akunyili in a Specialist Cancer Hospital in India this morning at 10 am, Nigerian Time, after a two-year battle with cancer.

    “In spite of her illness, she was unwavering in her belief in a better Nigeria and that was why she defied her condition and was part of Anambra State Handover Committee and the National Conference.

    “The last time I visited her in India, even when she needed all the prayers herself, she was full of concern for the Chibok girls, security and other challenges facing the country and told me that she remained prayerful for the release of those girls and for God to help President Goodluck Jonathan to overcome all the challenges facing the nation.”

    Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, wept on hearing the death of Akunyili, describing it as a national tragedy.

    He said Anambra and indeed Nigeria will not be complete without people like Akunyili.

    To Senator Chris Ngige (Anambra Central), her death is a national calamity.

    Ngige, who contested the senatorial seat with Akunyili, said her death was a great loss to the country and Anambra in particular.

    He prayed God to grant her eternal rest, while urging the people she left behind to perpetuate her good legacies.

    The member representing Anaocha/Dunukofia and Njikoka federal constituency, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, also described the death of Akunyili as a national loss and prayed God to grant her eternal rest.

    Born in Makurdi, Benue State in 1954, the late Akunyili trained as a Pharmacist/ Pharmacologist.

    She is survived by her widower and children.

     

  • She shone like a meteor – Ayogu

    She shone like a meteor – Ayogu

    The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Senator Ayogu Eze, yesterday said the late Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili, was a patriot who shone like a meteor.

    He said Nigerians will miss her vibrancy and commitment to the nation.

    Eze, in a statement in Abuja, said the late minister was unique in her fight against fake drugs.

    He said: “She bred life into NAFDAC and in the process sanitised the chaotic and largely unregulated Nigerian medicine and pharmaceutical industry.

    “In her usual no holds barred approach in the fight against fake drugs, which had hitherto defied every fight against it, she attacked the syndrome frontally, almost compromising her personal safety in the process.

    “Her patriotism was to bloom fully when she arrived the Federal Ministry of Information where she left no one in doubt that she was a very resourceful professional by charting a way for cleaning Nigeria’s battered image.”

  • NAFDAC certifies 50,000 products in 2013

    The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control said on Tuesday it certified no fewer than 50,000 products last year.

    The NAFDAC Director-General, Dr. Paul Orhii, said the agency needs to continuously build the capacity of its laboratory staff to improve their competence to meet world regulatory standards.

    Orhii spoke at the capacity building workshop organised by Merck Millipore Bio-monitoring and Lab Water Technologies in Lagos.

    NAFDAC, he said attached great importance to the quality of regulatory framework and staff training.

    The Deputy Director, Laboratory Services, NAFDAC, Mrs. Abiodun Falana, said the aim of laboratories is to generate and certified products’ quality for the country.

    She said the trainees, who were selected from seven laboratories across the country would make certification of products easier.

  • CJN, NAFDAC chief seek new laws against fake drugs

    CJN, NAFDAC chief seek new laws against fake drugs

    The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar and the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr Paul Orhii, yesterday called for new laws to combat drug counterfeiting.

    The duo spoke yesterday in Lagos at a two-day International Judges’ Conference.

    They said the existing laws are inadequate and hinder effective regulatory control and punishment of offenders.

    Orhii, who said drug counterfeiters are worse than armed robbers, added that such criminals were mostly not severely punished.

    He said NAFDAC had proposed a minimum of life jail and confiscation of the assets of fake drug merchants upon conviction.

    The conference was jointly organised by the National Judicial Institute and NAFDAC, with the theme: Legal Protection for Consumers of Food and Drugs: Issues Arising Within Regulatory Framework.

    The CJN, who chaired the event, urged NAFDAC to push for a review of the anti-drug counterfeiting laws to make them more stringent to deter rather than encourage offenders.

    She said: “It may be conceded that the legislations in the area of administration of food and drug in Nigeria are grossly inadequate to combat this menace, most especially in the area of penalties and victims remedy.

    “NAFDAC can engage with the appropriate bodies to review its laws, while the judges will explore all the options within the ambit of the laws to ensure the protection of consumers.”

  • Customs intensifies clampdown on smugglers

    Customs intensifies clampdown on smugglers

    The Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone C of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has intensified onslaught against the smuggling syndicates in the Southeast and South-South. They are believed to be behind the smuggling of contraband and counterfeit products into the country, especially rice and fairly used vehicles popularly known as tokunbo.

    In the last two years, it had recorded unprecedented breakthroughs in the war against saboteurs of the country’s economy.

    First was the bursting of a powerful syndicate that specialised in importation of banned poultry products that are injurious to consumers’ health. Currently, they had been neutralised due to the proactive and effective tactics employed by the officers in the zone under the leadership of the Controller of FOU Zone C, Victor David Dimka.

    After they had been dislodged in the business of smuggling contraband poultry products, the smugglers began smuggling unapproved variety of rice which they cleverly mix with bags of approved ones.

    Once again, the FOU Zone C has lived up to its constitutional responsibility of protecting the country’s economy from the activities of smugglers.

    At the last count, the zone had made seizure of smuggled rice with total duty paid value (DPV) of over N375, 634 million at two different occasions.

    Displaying the seized smuggled lorry loads of rice which included fake Mama Africa brand of rice valued at N160, 440 and other brands of rice, with a total DPV of N235, 634,000 assured that the synergy currently existing between the NCS and other security agencies, especially the Police, Army, the State Security Services (SSS) and NAFDAC, would be strengthened to reduce the menace of smuggling in the country.

    He expressed optimism that despite the upsurge in smuggling in recent times, the scourge could be effectively tackled with the support and co-operation of all patriotic Nigerians with security agencies, stating that the Nigeria Customs Service would sustain its public enlightenment/sensitisation campaign on the dangers inherent in the illegal business of smuggling, patronage and consumption of contraband goods.

    “The items were brought in with every amount of ingenuity and if we are not able to check them, those who criminally brought them in would eventually have their way to the market,” said Dimka who expressed shock over the resilience of the smugglers after losing so much money as a result of the clampdown on their illegal trade. He warned transporters to always be careful and mindful of the purpose for which their vehicles are being used at any point in time since ignorance of the use of any vehicle for a criminal act can never be tolerated as an excuse.

    Continuing, he said: “The story behind our success is the co-operation and support we receive from the Comptroller-General of Customs Abdullahi Dikko Inde, the management. We have also embarked on training and re-training, even as our intelligence unit is at its best to meet our challenges.

    “The Nigeria Customs Service, more than ever before, is adequately trained and motivated to confront the smuggling racket. This is a warning to smugglers and would-be-smugglers that it is no longer business as usual.

    “No matter the tactics they employ to deceive security agents, they cannot escape the eagle eyes of the officers of FOU Zone C and they will be arrested, prosecuted and punished. But we will continue to partner with the public on the area of intelligence gathering to help in curbing the menace.”

    Disclosing the method of operation of the rice smugglers, Dimka said. “The syndicate, after buying large quantities of the banned rice, discharge them in neighbouring countries, where they are re-bagged with the bags of the ones that are approved for importation and then smuggle them into the country in small quantities.

    “Despite their tricks, we are able to identify the fake products and pick them up when they have entered into the country. What we normally do is to keep tracking them until they enter into safe zone when we can move in and round them up.”

    He said the consignments were intercepted along the Agbor-Okpanam Road, Onitsha/Asaba Road and Benin/Onitsha Road by his men who acted on a tip-off.

    Dimka further stated that five suspects arrested in connection with the crime are currently detained in Benin, Enugu and Calabar and are helping Customs officials in their investigations, adding that those already granted bail would soon appear in court.

    He warned that although officers of Nigeria Customs Service are to shoot to maim, they can shoot to kill whenever it becomes inevitable in the discharge of their duties, especially when a smuggler is armed and their lives are in danger. “They are now better trained, equipped, motivated and informed to meet their challenges in the interest of the country’s economy,” he said.

    Dimka attributed the upsurge in smuggling to unbridled quest to make quick money by desperate Nigerians. He assured that his men would always support the government and implement its policies and programme geared towards the elimination of smuggling.

    Seizure made in the zone which covers Edo, Bayelsa, Delta, Anambra, Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi, Rivers, Cross River, Imo and Akwa Ibom states in the last one month included lorry loads of smuggled rice with Duty Paid Value of N235, 634 million, 31 assorted types of vehicles valued at N18 million.

     

    This is in addition to 14 cartons of contraband Tramadol with 300 pieces of 100mg capsules suspected to have been illegally imported from England without NAFDAC’s officially approved registration numbers.

    The Controller explained that the Tramadol capsules were deceitfully packed and concealed in a luxury bus along with many other contraband goods before it was intercepted by officers attached to the zone.

    Despite the upsurge of smuggling in the country, Dimka expressed optimism that the scourge could be effectively tackled with the support and co-operation of all patriotic Nigerians, stating that the NCS would sustain its public enlightenment/sensitisation campaign on the dangers inherent in the illegal business of smuggling, patronage and consumption of imported contraband goods.

    Receiving the drugs impounded on behalf of the Director-General of National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Dr. Paul Orhii, the Chief Regulatory Officer of NAFDAC Mrs. Esther Itua commended the NCS for its spirited effort to contain the problem of smuggling, even as he assured that the agency will stop at nothing to apprehend those behind the importation.

    However, businessmen in the Southeast have decried the incessant seizure of their goods by the Customs officers in the zone who they accused of systematically clamping down on their trade because of their alleged refusal to pay exorbitant and illegal levies imposed by the Customs.

    In a swift reaction, the Controller dismissed their claims as frivolous and unfounded, challenging anyone with genuine complaint to come up and report any case of extortion as claimed to any anti-graft agency in the country, stating that no amount of cheap blackmail will deter the officers from carrying out their legitimate duties.

     

     

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