The Director of Investigations, National Agency for Food, Drugs, Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Mr. Ejiofor Kingsley, has disclosed that in the current year the agency has seized approximately N11bn worth of fake drugs.
Ejiofor made this known in an interview in which he said the current punishment for persons convicted of dealing in counterfeit drugs was a slap on the wrist.
Commending Customs Services on its recent interception of two 40ft trucks of substandard drugs, he said all hands must be on deck to combat the influx of fake drugs saying the menace posed danger to millions of lives.
“In 2017 alone, we have recorded seizures of fakes drugs worth over N11billion. You can see the huge quantity and the health implications involved in this deadly act…
“Now 15years imprisonment or a fine of 500.000 is the current punishment for such offence, and it is not severe enough because taking fake drugs is like giving people poison. Imagine if the officers of FOU had not intercepted this huge quantity of substandard drugs, the dangers innocent Nigerians will be exposed to in buying such drugs.”
He added that NAFDAC had forwarded a bill proposing life jail for fake drug dealers to the National Assembly.
