The Director General of the National Agency For Food, Drug Administration And Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, says 77 truck loads of illegal drugs worth trillions of naira have been discovered at a warehouse in Apapa, Lagos.
Professor Adeyeye, who disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Lagos, called on the federal government to tighten security at the borders to curtail smuggling of counterfeit drugs and other harmful products into the country.
She said eleven thousand shops have been closed with forty suspects arrested in the ongoing crackdown on illicit drug dealers in major open markets across the country.
The discovered items include vaccines, several controlled substances, condoms that ought to have been destroyed since 2022, anti retrovirals, Tramadol boxes, products donated by USAID, container loads of Analgin that have been banned for over five years and machines used in revalidating expired drugs.
Expired medicines since 2022 and altered to appear valid until 2028 were also uncovered by the agency
While calling for support to address the shortage of staff, the NAFDAC DG said the scale of operation requires the collaboration of over 1000 security officers in Onitsha, 350 in Aba and 250 in Idumota, Lagos State as well as officers from the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria PCN and support from the National Security Adviser.
Professor Adeyeye cautioned Nigerians to purchase their medication from only approved and reputable pharmacy stores.
