BREAKING: Anambra Drug Market Enforcement To Protect, Not Harm Business
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has stated that the recent enforcement exercise at the drug market in Anambra State was not meant to harm genuine businesses.
Speaking with THE WHISTLER on Thursday, Sayo Akintola, NAFDAC’s Resident Media Consultant, said the exercise was necessary to safeguard Nigerians’ health.
The agency reiterated this following the recent protest by persons claiming to be drug traders in Onitsha.
On Tuesday, traders at the Ogbo-Ogwu Bridgehead Drug Market in Onitsha, Anambra State, protested the NAFDAC’s alleged continuous closure of their shops.
The traders, under the aegis of Concerned and Genuine Members of Ogbo-Ogwu Drug Market, lamented that the development has brought untold hardship and financial burdens on them.
They also alleged that NAFDAC is demanding the sum of N2m from each person before they can reopen the market.
NAFDAC had closed the market for one month to rid the place of fake, counterfeit, unregistered, and banned drugs.
Speaking with THE WHISTLER, Akintola confirmed that the agency has reopened the market, stressing that the enforcement exercise was never meant to disrupt business activities
“Unfortunately for them, we relate to the market leaders. We communicate with them through their leaders.
“All I know is that all the shops have reopened in line with the directive of the DG NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye, who insisted that the enforcement exercise was not meant to disrupt the business activities of the traders but to ensure that the health of Nigerians is safeguarded,” Akintola told our correspondent.
Meanwhile, the leadership of Ogbo-Ogwu Bridgehead Drug Market has dissociated itself from the recent protest.
Addressing newsmen on Wednesday, the leadership of the market, led by its caretaker chairman, Ndubuisi Chukwuleta, said those who protested against the NAFDAC enforcement exercise at the market are not genuine traders of the Ogbo-Ogwu drug market.
Chukwuleta appealed to the general public to disregard the protesters, insisting that the market is not in support of the protest.
He also alleged that the protesters were being sponsored to frustrate the efforts of the market leadership to resolve the issue.
Chukwuleta further stated that the claim by the protesters that NAFDAC was demanding N2m before each shop is false.
He noted that some fines were imposed for various offences committed by some traders.
“NAFDAC has announced the reopening of the market, although most of the shops are still under lock and key. This is because they are waiting for proper profiling, as early as stated in an agreement between NAFDAC and the market leadership.
“The affected traders are expected to visit the NAFDAC office and clear themselves before getting the approval to reopen their shops. The profiling exercise is currently ongoing here in Onitsha, and we are getting it right. The NAFDAC raid is not new; it also happened in 2007 under late Prof. Dora Akunyili’s watch.
“What the agency is doing is in line with my leadership to keep the Ogbo-Ogwu market free of fake and expired drugs, which Governor Chukwuma Soludo also preaches. As I speak to you now, even my shop is still under lock and key because I have yet to complete my profiling exercise, but those who have completed theirs have opened and started selling.
“Their claim that they are being asked to pay N2 million before reopening their shops is false. The true position is that there is a fine imposed for particular infractions as stated in NAFDAC laws, which they are aware of,” said Chukwuleta.
