Drugs Hawking Is Prohibited,NAFDAC Insists

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has insisted that drug hawking is prohibited in Nigeria.

The agency also advised Nigerians to stop patronizing drugs from hawkers and unauthorised outlets, saying that they should prioritise their healthcare by buying drugs from pharmaceutical outlets that are registered with the agency.

Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, the NAFDAC Director General, who spoke during the agency’s  sensitization campaign in Bauchi, urged Nigerians  to use the Mobile Authentication System inscribed on drugs to identify fake or genuine drugs.

She was represented at the event  by the Director Planning and Research of the Agency, Fori Tatami.

She explained that the key objective of the sensitization programme was to intensify and expand the scope of informal and formal behaviour change communication strategies in order to reach the vulnerable communities especially at the grassroots.

“The advent of COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated the problem with the challenge posed by substandard and falsified Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs). The Sensitization campaigns will therefore contribute significantly to Federal Government’s concerted efforts to inform, sensitize, educate and alert the public about inherent dangers of intake and use of those spurious regulated products”

“These campaign themes are intended to address the following public health challenges such as dangers of buying medicines from hawkers, abuse of codeine and self-medication especially among youths.The dangerous effects of using Kerosene tanker to load groundnut oil, Dangerous practice of using potassium bromate to bake bread, Use of Azo-dyes in Palm oil which causes cancer,

Dangers of using Sniper to preserve any type of food or to keep flies away from meat amongst others” she said