NAFDAC Storms Aba Market, Seeks Cooperation Against Fake Products

IN continuation of its nationwide raids and screening of markets and distribution outlets, officials of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), yesterday stormed the popular Cemetery market in central Aba, Abia State with a charge to heads of market unions to cooperate with the Agency to achieve its avowed zero tolerance for unwholesome regulated products.

  The special operation, which was carried out by Regulatory Officers from the Investigation and Enforcement Directorate of the agency from Lagos, saw the closure of five shops suspected to have offending products stocked in them and whose owners had absconded before the arrival of the NAFDAC team in the market.

  According to a statement by Anslem Okonkwor of the Public Relations Unit of the agency, the regulatory officers were accompanied to the market by security operatives and some journalists.

  He said that the main mission of the group led by Mr. Folorunso Idowu, Chief Regulatory Officer, was to fish out reported unsafe confectioneries imported into the country in two 20-feet containers.

  He stressed that if the nation must get rid of unwholesome regulated products, the heads of the market unions must join in the fight.
“If killer importers were allowed to go scot-free, their activities would continue to harm the health of Nigerians including their accomplices to the crime of selling unsafe products.”

 
Idowu, however, assured that NAFDAC is not out to destroy anyone’s business but to ensure that they do genuine business so that the health of Nigerians will not be endangered. 

  “We need the cooperation of the chairmen of these markets so that NAFDAC and other federal governments agencies can function effectively when they get to the markets,” he stated.

  He urged businessmen who are importing regulated products into the country to take such to NAFDAC offices for laboratory tests to confirm their safety, adding that certification adds to their marketing value and strength.