The Nation Newspaper

Tag: National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)

  • NAFDAC arrests man with 16 cartons of fake food seasoning product

    The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control ( NAFDAC ), Abia State Office, has arrested one Samuel Akin Chukwu for faking a food seasoning product owned by another importer.

    The Abia State Coordinator of NAFDAC, Mr Olisa Okeke, disclosed this in an interview with our reporter on Monday in Aba.

    Okeke said that Chukwu claimed in his preliminary statement that he was not the importer but only an agent to an importer in Onitsha, Anambra, who brought in the fake products.

    He said that the original product was imported from South Africa by a Nigerian, who had been the sole distributor until the fakers went to China to produce the adulterated version.

    He said that the importer of the spice registered it with NAFDAC and had been renewing the registration with a record of good business until the fakers went to reproduce it in China.

    “After surveillance, we were able to isolate the warehouse and with the support of the Nigerian army, the warehouse was stormed and we arrested Samuel Akin Chukwu and confiscated about 16 cartoons of the product.

    “We were also able to retrieve some cartons from two persons who had bought the fake products and were leaving the shop on our arrival,” he said.

    According to the NAFDAC Coordinator, the agency confiscated a total of 26 cartons of the fake product from Chukwu and his customers.

    Okeke descried the Eziukwu Market in Aba as the centre for high volume of trade in food items, adding that some dubious persons used the opportunity to manufacture fake food products.

    “Eziukwu is a market that NAFDAC Abia office has its eyes on because of the activities of nefarious individuals in from time to time.”

    He said that NAFDAC would continue to raid the market until producers of fake products were thrown out of business to eradicate the menace of poisoning of citizens for the sake of monetary gains.

    Okeke thanked the residents who gave NAFDAC the tip-off and urged them to always inform the agency of suspicious activities around them.

    The product is named “Benny Powdered Chicken Stock” with the image of the head of a cockerel in front of the pack.

    The original product has a set of three sachets joined horizontally with the expiry date written on a black patch but the fake version has a set of five joined vertically and without a black patch.

    NAN

  • NAFDAC nabs two selling banned Analgin injection in Aba

    NAFDAC nabs two selling banned Analgin injection in Aba

    The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control ( NAFDAC ) has arrested a man and a woman in Aba for selling banned Analgin injection to unsuspecting residents.

    Mr Olisa Okeke, the Abia Coordinator of NAFDAC, made this known on Thursday in Aba in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    He said although the woman had been released on bail, she was being monitored and would be helping NAFDAC to further the investigation to burst other dealers in that drug ring in Aba.

    Okeke said that the man who also stocked the products in his shop has been made to pay a fine of N200,000, while NAFDAC confiscated the remaining drugs in his shop and sealed it.

    However, he said that full details of the suspects would not reveal now as they were helping in the investigation and possible arrest of those in their ring.

    “We got some expired injections in a shop and also found that the woman who is the owner is a nurse and she is using Analgin injection, a banned product.

    “As I am talking to you now the woman has been arrested and have been taken on bail, she is helping NAFDAC to further the investigation.

    “We are trying to trace where she bought the analgin injection. Novalgin tablet and Analgin are banned drugs.

    “We also got a shop around Umuigbo area where we found analgin injection stocke; we confiscated it and sealed the shop. He has paid N200,000 fine,’’ Okeke said.

    The coordinator said that his office stepped up surveillance on faking and selling of expired and adulterated drugs and food products in Abia during the month of August.

    He said that the rains and bad roads have not prevented the agency from discharging its mandate.

    “I can say that within August we have done a lot of activities and we did not want the rains to deter us because we know the unscrupulous elements in the society, the fakers, would always use this as the period to do their wicked work so we did not want the rain to deter us.

    “Most times, wherever our car could not take us, we hire tricycle or motorcycle. There was an operation we had at Omumua road, our officers were able to access the place with a motorcycle and were able to arrest the woman who operates a maternity,” he said.

    Okeke therefore called on residents to report unscrupulous persons faking products or selling expired drugs or food products to NAFDAC to safeguard lives.

  • No GMO product have been licensed – NAFDAC

    No GMO product have been licensed – NAFDAC

    The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it has not licensed any Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) based products in the country.

    The NAFDAC Spokesperson, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja while reacting on speculation that GMO products have flooded some markets in Nigeria.

    Jimoh explained that the agency had not given any approval for GMO foods in the country.

    He said that if any was found in any departmental store or supermarket, such was selling illegally without the consent of NAFDAC.

    According to him, the Federal Government has created a new agency to regulate GMO based products and the organisation had visited NAFDAC to seek for cooperation.

    “Hope you are aware that government created an agency recently purposely to regulate GMOs and the agency met with us.

    “We asked them to be on the driver’s seat while we work with them, and they told us that they also had not given any approval for GMO products.

    “Anybody that has any evidence on the presence of GMO based products in the country should report to NAFDAC,” he said.

    The spokesperson noted that NAFDAC works in partnership with agencies nationally and internationally on any regulated products within its purview.

    He said that apart from GMO products that the federal government directed NAFDAC to work with Customs to monitor sometimes back, the agency has always being partnering with relevant organisations in all its regulated products.

    Jimoh disclosed that NAFDAC was also in collaboration with Nigeria Custom Service to drive federal government’s policy on economic diversification to ensure self-sufficiency in rice production to stop reckless importation of rice to the country.

  • NAFDAC destroys items worth N252m in Gombe

    NAFDAC destroys items worth N252m in Gombe

    Goods worth N252,882,020 million have been destroyed by the Northern zonal office of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Wednesday  in Gombe, Gombe State.

    The items destroyed include bags of flour, packs of body creams and drugs such as Analgin injection, groundnut oils and various juice drinks.

    The Acting Director-General of the agency, Mrs Yetunde Oni, said that the items were either voluntarily surrendered to the agency by those who had them in stock or mopped up by NAFDAC officers during enforcement surveillance.

    The D-G said faking of regulated products or selling of unwholesome products was the greatest evil of the time, calling it an act of terrorism.

    He said products counterfeiters were not just a problem to the country but were more dangerous than armed robbers.
    A representative of the Secretary to the State Government SSG, Mr Obel Yaji, used the occasion to appeal to NAFDAC to regulate the activities of traditional medicine hawkers.
    He said NAFDAC had been active in saving lives and that checkmating traditional medicine hawkers would help in deepening the impact of the agency on the public.

  • NDLEA, NAFDAC apprehend fake manufacturer of antibiotics

    NDLEA, NAFDAC apprehend fake manufacturer of antibiotics

    The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Kano State Command has arrested and handed over to the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) one Mr. Ikechukwu Adiba  for being in possession of counterfeit packaging materials of Augmentin powder for oral suspension for infants and children.

    According to the Acting Director General (DG), Mrs. Yetunde Oni operatives traced Mr Adiba to a provision shop located at No. 8B Burma Road, Sabon Gari which was raided by the agency’s operatives and four cartons of counterfeit Augmentin powder, empty bottles in sacks, some Augmentin tablets and packaging materials were recovered.

    “On interrogation, the suspect confessed to have been involved in the business since 2010. Investigation revealed that Mr. Ikechukwu Adiba manufactures the dangerous products in his residential apartment in Kano. The use of fake/counterfeit antibiotics with little or no active ingredients can lead to resistance development which can leave physicians with nothing to treat serious infections which could be life threatening.”