Get Guardian on Google…Accuses PCN, NAFDAC of aiding Illicit trade of Pregabalin
Kano State Multi-Agency Taskforce on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking has sealed a pharmaceutical company for illicit distribution of Pregabalin.
Conducting journalists round the pharmaceutical on Saturday, the Chairman of the Taskforce Barr. Muhuyi Magaji revealed that 3,180,000 Pregabalin tables worth over N900 million were uncovered from the facility located within the residential area of Sabon Gari.
He said the task force had so far recorded 1,760 arrests and secured 890 convictions in its operations against drug abuse, illicit trafficking and associated criminal activities.
Magaji worried that while the taskforce was deploying energy to contain the demand through arrest and prosecution of abusers, he lamented that pharmaceutical companies licensed by regulatory agencies are propelling the supply chain.
He specifically accused some officials of
Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria PCN and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) in Kano of aiding illegal distribution of Pregabalin and other controlled medicines in the state.
The Chairman of the multi-agency taskforce alleged that the regulators through the issuance of license have paved ways for the illicit trade of Pregabalin on the streets of Kano, even when the same table is hardly found at the pharmacies.
Magaji identified pregabalin as the most widely abused substance in Kano, disclosing that eight out of every 10 suspected drug users arrested by the task force were either found in possession of the substance or admitted to abusing it.
The chairman questioned the circumstances surrounding the issuance of import licences for pregabalin following its classification as a controlled drug by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on September 14, 2026.
He specifically raised concerns over an import licence allegedly granted to a Pharmaceutical company in Kano on October 23, 2026, arguing that the decision required closer scrutiny in view of the substance’s widespread abuse in the state.
According to him, preliminary investigations by the task force indicated that the owner of the company had allegedly established another company, which he claimed was being used as a front for the unlawful distribution of controlled drugs through clandestine networks.
He argued that the alleged registration of the premises raised questions about regulatory compliance and the enforcement of land-use provisions.
The task force chairman also accused some PCN personnel of having links with clandestine drug distribution activities, alleging that such interests were responsible for resistance to the task force’s efforts to tackle the problem.
“I cannot in good conscience continue to go after the victims (users) while the perpetrators (dealers) are given shield by those that have a statutory responsibility of protecting them from accessing these drugs they tend to abuse,” he said.
Efforts to obtain reactions from the regulators as at the time of filing the report proved abortive as representative of PCN in Kano Hasiya Abubakar Ladan declined response to text message. The NAFDAC controller in Kano is yet to respond to the allegation as at the time of filing the report.
