NIGERIA – Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has shut down approximately 100 shops in Enugu State’s Ogbete Main Market for allegedly selling suspected fake beverages.
The action followed a raid conducted on July 1, 2024.
Martins Iluyomade, NAFDAC’s Director in the Southeast region, stated that the agency seized a truckload of adulterated products and arrested four traders suspected of being involved in the sale of counterfeit beverages during the operation.
The suspects are currently in custody and will be prosecuted following an ongoing investigation.
Iluyomade emphasized that the raid aligns with NAFDAC’s mandate to safeguard public health and eliminate unwholesome, substandard, fake, and adulterated products in the Southeast.
“We stormed the popular Ogbete Main Market, Enugu in Enugu State since Friday and have shut down 100 shops which have been identified for selling fake alcoholic beverages,” he said.
“Arrests were made, and the suspects are currently in custody. This fake wine and alcoholic beverages are being sold to unsuspected customers and the general public, but we are determined to rid the market of these unwholesome products.”
The intensive operation was conducted with active collaboration from the police, State Security Service (SSS), and army, which deployed personnel for the well-coordinated raid.
This crackdown follows NAFDAC’s recent destruction of fake, counterfeit, substandard, expired, and unwholesome regulated products worth an estimated N985.3 million (US$629.6 thousand).
The destroyed products included medicines such as antibiotics, antihypertensives, antimalarials, analgesics, herbal remedies, and psychoactive and controlled substances.
Additionally, food items such as vegetable oil, non-alcoholic beverages, sachet water, condiments, and tomato pastes were also incinerated.
NAFDAC also reiterated that the ban on the sale and consumption of sachet alcoholic beverages in Nigeria remains in force.
Moji Adeyeye, NAFDAC’s Director General, affirmed, “The ban on sachet alcohol is a ministerial directive and the ban still remains until the ministers respond. The meeting last week Thursday is a continuation of the discussion.”
This statement came in response to comments by Philip Agbese, the deputy spokesman for the House of Representatives, who disclosed that the House and NAFDAC had resolved to lift the ban on the sale and consumption of sachet alcoholic beverages in the country.
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