*Call for arrest and prosecution of peddlers of fake and unwholesome drugs
Jonas Ezieke, Abuja
The South-East Caucus in the House of Representatives has said that its attention has been drawn to the continued lockdown of the Onitsha medicine market located at the Bridge head, in Onitsha, Anambra State and called for immediate reopening of the market.
The Leader of the House Caucus Hon.Igariwey Iduma Enwo at a press briefing on Tuesday in Abuja said they called on the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control NAFDAC to urgently re-open the market for business activities of genuine business men and women.
The group he also said unequivocally condemn the nefarious activities of unscrupulous traders and so-called businessmen and women, who peddle and engage in the business of production and distribution of fake, adulterated and unwholesome medications and drugs, which they pass on to the unsuspecting public.
According to him, to say the very least, their activities not only imperil public health, but have led directly or indirectly to loss of lives. To a lesser extent, these death merchants are also economic saboteurs since their clandestine activities are not open to government scrutiny and taxation.
The group also equally commended NAFDAC for their intervention in halting the unconscionable activities of these merchants of death all over the country.
It said that it while the group is mindful of NAFDAC’s statutory role in curbing and stamping out of fake drugs in the country, the caucus urge them to quickly arrest and prosecute those responsible for the production and distribution of these fake drugs.
He said, “The wholesale and indefinite sealing of a market that caters for over ninety percent of the medication needs of the South East and South South regions, may not be the best approach, mores when it is considered that many of the other traders in the same market are genuine business men and women”.
The House Caucus further said that in order to avoid a situation of visiting collective punishment on all the traders of Onitsha Bridgehead, which is currently in a state of lockdown, and considering the wider collateral effect of the lockdown on the health needs of the larger population, they urge NAFDAC to quickly resolve the situation by prosecuting the offenders, sanitizing the entire medical ecosystem, whether in Onitsha bridge head market, or in Aba, Lagos or Kano.
The parliamentary group noted that it further requires the Nigerian Customs Services to stand up to their responsibilities by ensuring that our land, sea and air boarders are better protected, to nip in the bud the influx of fake and adulterated drugs into this country.
