December 5, 2017

The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Abia State office, confiscated food and drug products worth over N5 million between October and Dec. 4 in Abia.

The NAFDAC Coordinator for Abia State Office, Mr Olisa Okeke, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Aba on Tuesday.

He said that the confiscated products include: beverages, food stuffs and drugs which were being sold without NAFDAC’s permission at night.

He said that the agency had also sanctioned seven shops selling provisions in Aba and Umuahia because of the status of the goods they were selling to unsuspecting residents.

The coordinator said that most of the shops were selling expired products to the public at night.

He said that the Abia NAFDAC Office Surveillance Team got information from residents which resulted in the bursting of the sales of the expired and unregistered products in Aba and Umuahia.

Okeke said that some unscrupulous business men were bringing into the state unregistered and expired products to making quick money during the impending Christmas period and warned residents to be watchful.

“We have noticed that activities are heightening this Christmas season and NAFDAC has started feeling the heat.

“You know that during this period, unscrupulous businessmen like to bring into the state all kinds of goods and products including unregistered, substandard and spurious products and those whose expiry dates had been altered.

“This might be on the increase so we are alerting our citizens, especially those in Abia , to be watchful to ensure they are not taken unawares.

“On our part, we have increased our surveillance to check the incidence of infiltration of harmful products into the state.

“Residents, however, owe the agency a duty to volunteer information that could help investigation and bursting of perpetrators of these evils to save lives,” he said.