Following the announcement by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), that it has sealed over 11,000 shops and the arrest of 40 persons in its ongoing nationwide clampdown on fake and substandard medicines, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has called for the sacking of security officers found culpable in allowing the importation of fake and substandard foods and drugs into the country.
HURIWA specifically called on NADFAC, the Nigeria Police Force and Nigeria Custom service to flush out their operatives and officers who usually looked the other way to allow the importation of fake and substandard foods and drugs into Nigeria.
HURIWA noted that under the second schedule, legislative powers, part 1, Exclusive legislative list, Article 21 provides that drugs are under the regulatory control and purview of the federal government which makes it imperative that officials of the government who facilitate importation of substandard drugs must be identified, arrested, investigated, prosecuted and punished in strict compliance with the due process of the law.
It also said that law enforcement agents who conspire with importers of fake drugs should face a lifetime jail while manufacturers of fake drugs and substandard products if caught should equally be jailed for life.
HURIWA specifically tasked the DG of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye to step up her personal security, scrutinise what she eats and drinks, saying that if one fights drug lords who are kingpins of the underworld, the person must of necessity be many steps ahead of them in terms of personal security.
The rights group recalled that attempts were made on the life of the former DG of NAFDAC, late Professor Dora Akunyili, adding that she allegedly died of mysterious illness just as her husband was suspiciously gunned down in Onitsha, the same place Mrs. Dora Akunyili waged relentless war against fake and substandard drugs.
A These were contained in a statement by Emmanuel Onwubiko, National Coordinator of HURIWA, in which he also said that in as much as the operations to flush out fake and substandard drugs by NAFDAC is a step in the right direction, it however said the operations may become an ‘annual ritual’ unless and until the hierarchies of the Nigeria police force, NAFDAC and Customs are able to identify operatives and officers attached to the nation’s seaports and international airports that conspired with importers of fake and substandard drugs from mostly Asian nations of India and China.
HURIWA expressed disappointment that the top-notch regulators from NAFDAC and law enforcement agents from the Nigerian Customs Service and the Nigeria Police Force deployed to the various Sea ports and Air ports in Nigeria from where these fake drugs and substandard products are brought into Nigeria, have not been flushed out of the system.
According to HURIWA; “This is penny wise, pound foolish’ because as soon as these confiscated fake, substandard drugs and products are destroyed by NAFDAC, many more still flood into Nigeria because the business of selling fake, and substandard drugs and products is a multi billion dollars enterprise.
“The federal government should task these regulatory bodies and the law enforcement agencies to identify the top officers who were deployed to the seaports and airports and then investigate them to ascertain their levels of involvement in the daredevil criminality of importation of fake drugs and products into Nigeria.
“Aside the issue of economic sabotage, the consumption of fake medications lead to collapse of vital human organs and these are responsible for the several cases of kidney failures recorded in Nigeria,” it said.
