NAFDAC evacuates 140 tonnes of expired, unregistered drugs in Aba

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has evacuated 140 tonnes of expired and unregistered drugs from Aba to its office in Anambra.

The Deputy Director in charge of Investigation and Enforcement, NAFDAC Federal Taskforce, South South and South East states, Omoyeni Babatunji, disclosed this on Saturday.

Mr Babatunji, while briefing journalists about the agency’s operations in Aba, said more than 178 drug samples drawn from the operation would be subjected to laboratory investigation.

He said the 140 tonnes of expired drugs were evacuated from a warehouse in Umummeje, Umuocheala in Osisioma LGA, and excludes products from the Ariaria international market drug shops.

Mr Babatunji told journalists that two warehouses located on No. 269, Sam Mbakwe Road, formerly Faulk’s Road, Aba, filled with expired drugs had also been uncovered.

He said NAFDAC officials found that the suspects took away some cartons of the expired but re-labelled drugs after they uncovered the place and went to bring in security.

The NAFDAC deputy director who took journalists to the two freshly uncovered warehouses of expired products, said the evacuation of the drugs would start on Saturday evening.

He noted that recent discoveries of expired products being re-labelled and sent to markets had renewed the urgent call for a drug warehouse Wholesale Control Centre (WCC) in Aba.

He said, “This activity is a drive toward the achievement of WCC, as NAFDAC is now on ML3 or what we call Maturity Level 3 of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“All our activities are derived from global benchmarking tools for regulatory activities and coordinated warehouse system is part of it so we can regulate and control those drugs.

“And NAFDAC has been engaging state governors of Abia and Anambra, where those centres are located, pushing for the establishment of the WCC warehouse system.”

Luis Madubuata, another deputy director of NAFDAC, said the discovery of stockpiles of expired products in Aba was horrifying and worrisome.

He said, “We actually got here because of the collaborative operation that is going on in Aba between NAFDAC and security agencies.

“Through intelligence, we got to know that there is another place here where these expired products are being re-labelled and sent to the market.

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“For now, no arrest has been made because when we came in, evidently, we saw that people just vacated the house with their refrigerator and other electronic gadgets still switched on.”

Mr Madubuata, however, expressed hope that the police would apprehend the suspects and ensure they face the law.

He thanked Abia governor Alex Otti’s government, noting that NAFDAC’s work in Aba had progressed with no disturbances because the government had supported it immensely.

(NAN)