Shaba Mohammed, Director of Investigation and Enforcement at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has issued a stern warning against obstructing NAFDAC personnel during enforcement operations targeting substandard drugs and falsified goods. In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja, Mohammed emphasized that attacks on NAFDAC’s enforcement team, such as the incident in February involving drug hawkers and touts, will not be tolerated.
Several individuals involved in the February attack have been arraigned before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja. Mohammed stressed that these legal actions are intended to serve as a deterrent to others who might consider similar actions.
“Those arraigned recently in the court are part of those who attacked NAFDAC officials while on enforcement duty some months ago. Arraigning them in court is to pay for their sins; this is also to advise the public to desist from attacking NAFDAC staff while on duty,” he said.
Mohammed acknowledged that counterfeit products still circulate within the country, largely due to the activities of unscrupulous individuals who exploit hawkers to distribute these illicit goods. NAFDAC is committed to eradicating this problem by continuing to arrest hawkers and tracing the sources of counterfeit products, whether imported or locally produced.
“The public should support NAFDAC to sanitise the system. Anyone caught in such an act will be prosecuted thoroughly because that is obstruction of a Federal Government team in performing its jobs. Sales of drugs in marketplaces, hawking, or in moving vehicles is actually prohibited by NAFDAC law. This is regarded as a criminal act, and that is why we are prosecuting those that have committed crimes against the NAFDAC act,” he stated.
As Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Mohammed will collaborate closely with the Federal Task Force, which includes other related agencies such as the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria, Customs Service, and Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC). The task force’s strategies to curb counterfeit drugs include manning points of entry to intercept illicit products and deploying Post Marketing Surveillance officials who will operate as undercover agents.
Mohammed urged the public to support NAFDAC’s efforts in sanitizing the system and emphasized that all individuals involved in obstructing NAFDAC’s operations or distributing counterfeit products will face prosecution.