National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has uncovered counterfeit alcohol packaging centres at Article Market, Abule-Osun, Lagos State, and seized items worth about ₦2 billion.
A NAFDAC statement, yesterday, via X, noted that during the operations, over 50,000 fake branded labels and packaging materials used to produce unauthorised and hazardous alcoholic beverages were confiscated.
The agency described the raid as a significant step towards protecting public health and safety.
The statement said, “NAFDAC has dismantled illegal alcohol packaging operations at Article Market in Abule-Osun, Lagos State. During the raid, over 50,000 counterfeit branded labels and packaging materials for fake alcoholic beverages, valued at approximately ₦2 billion, were confiscated.”
NAFDAC revealed that the items were used in the illegal production of alcoholic drinks that pose severe health risks.
This is coming a day after NAFDAC conducted a raid on a warehouse in Oke-Afa, Okota, Lagos, housing unregistered and expired goods.
According to NAFDAC, acting on intelligence, officials raided the facility and caught operators unloading a 20ft container of unregistered carbonated drinks.
Further inspection revealed 14 rooms stocked with unregistered and expired products, some contaminated by rats due to poor storage conditions.
The statement reads: “The facility has been placed on hold, with all operations suspended pending further investigation. NAFDAC has invited the management to provide sourcing evidence, including the Global Listing for Supermarket Items (GLSI) certificate.”
MEANWHILE, in a bid to boost local drug manufacturing in Nigeria and address the challenges of drug availability and affordability, an expert has authored a book on the pharmaceutical industry and drug production, aiming to reduce the nation’s reliance on drug importation.
The book titled, ‘The Pharmaceutical Industry and Drug Production in Nigeria,’ was written by the immediate past president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Ahmed Yakasai, and was launched, yesterday, at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.
According to Yakasia, the book exhaustively explored and examined the challenges and opportunities in local drug production in Nigeria and identified the challenges facing local pharmaceutical industries in the production of drugs in Nigeria.
He explained that the book equally examined the way Nigeria could exploit the opportunities of the small-scale indigenous manufacturing plants and research institutes for the production of drugs in Nigeria.
The author added that the book could aid policymakers in formulating the right policies in the areas of enhancing the pharmaceutical industry in local production and also contribute to the existing body of healthcare knowledge, including professionals, researchers, industry players, academia, students, development partners as well as the general public and patients alike.
The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, at the event, revealed that working together with the author helped the agency to find out that the top five products imported were also the top five products made in Nigeria, which led the NAFDAC to start the five by five to increase the capacity of local drug manufacturers on the scope.
