NAFDAC Destroys $150m Fake Products in 6yrs

This Day
October 25, 2007
From Onwuka Nzeshi in Abuja

National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has destroyed counterfeit and sub-standard products valued at over $150 million in 115 exercises in the last six years.

It has also secured 45 convictions in respect of counterfeit drug-related cases, while 60 cases are pending in various courts during the same period.

However, the Agency has proposed the establishment of an international convention on counterfeiting of pharmaceuticals as has been done in the case of narcotics and psychotropic substances, given the international network behind the fake drug manufacture and distribution around the world.

Director General of NAFDAC, Professor Dora Akunyili, disclosed this yesterday at the International Sensitisation Workshop on Fake Drugs, Unwholesome Food and Sub-standard Products held in Abuja.

Akunyili said due to the tremenduos support NAFDAC had received from government, the mass media and Nigerians, the agency has been able to sanitise the food and drug industry and created a reasonably well regulated environment that has not only saved the lives of millions, but has boosted the national economy.

According to her, NAFDAC activities and the immense public awareness it has created has awakened the consciousness of the international community that Nigeria was no longer a dumping ground for fake product. She added that counterfeit drugs in circulation have dropped from an average of over 41 percent in 2001 to 16.7 percent in 2006, while drugs unregistered by NAFDAC stood at 19 percent, as opposed to 68 percent recorded in 2001.

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