The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC), has raised the alarm over the increasing number of sub-standard and uncertified medical products and foods in circulation in the country.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, regreted the trend on Monday at the flag-off of the agency’s sensitisation campaigns in Port Harcourt, the South-South zonal office.
Adeyeye, who was represented by the Director, South-South Zone, Subulade Isijola, said the agency was working tirelessly to fish out those involved in the act, declaring zero tolerance for the menace.
While noting that the campaign was in eight states of the federation had kicked off, Adeyeye added that the public awareness campaign was one of the veritable regulatory mechanisms put in place by NAFDAC to promote and protect the health of Nigeria.
She noted that an educated citizenry was the bedrock of effective regulation, pointing out that the event was arranged to protect Nigerians from the deleterious effects of unwholesome food, falsified medical products, harmful cosmetics, poor water and other substandard regulated products.
The NAFDAC boss said that period of worsened manufacturing and distribution of substandard products, had passed, worrying that fake personal protective equipment had been pushed into the market, saying:
“It is common knowledge that Nigeria has a preponderant share of the global problem of falsified medical products and unwholesome food.
“I want to reassure you that NAFDAC under my watch will not leave any stone unturned in our concerted efforts to rid the country of the menace of falsified medical products, unwholesome food, harmful cosmetics, poorly packaged water and other substandard regulated products.
“The advent of Covid-19 pandemic has aggravated the problem with the challenge posed by substandard and falsified personal protective equipment (PPE).
“The sensitisation campaigns will therefore contribute significantly to Federal Government’s concerted efforts to inform, sensitise, educate and alert the public about inherent dangers of intake and use of those spurious regulated products.”
Meanwhile, Director, Public Affairs in Abuja, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, said the sensitisation served as part of recruitment of the public to take part in the fight against illicit products.
Jimoh said: “We have decided to recruit all of you in the vanguard of the campaign because we cannot do it on our own. We are talking of a population of over 200 million Nigerians and a staff strength of below 3,000, we cannot do that alone.
“The important thing is to leverage on our size as key stakeholders, so as to be able to disseminate the information to every corner of the country.”
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