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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, on Wednesday warned Nigerians to beware of social media products even as it destroyed fake, substandard and unwholesome products worth N2, 482, 600,290.00.
Giving the warning during the destruction exercise in Shagamu, Ogun State, the Director- General of NAFDAC, Prof Christianah Adeyeye said lately the social media has been used to advertise spurious substandard, unsafe and falsified NAFDAC regulated products.
Represented by the Director of Registration and Enforcement/ Chairman, Federal Taskforce on Counterfeit, Fake drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods, Barrister Kingsley Ejiofor, she lamented that regulated products such as cosmetics, and products for enlargement of burst and buttocks have flooded the social media.
“We are calling on members of the public to please help us to stop this. People with platforms should not allow these to be on their platforms because people who are gullible fall victims. Those are their targets. We have medicines too.“
She disclosed that most of the contact addresses used by operators and producers of those products on social media are not traceable and cannot be track or trace by NAFDAC.
“We have some bloggers who are into some of these things. They promote these products and the merchants of death. We employ members of the public to report them to us. Some of them their phone numbers cannot be traced too.”
Speaking on the unwholesome, falsified and fake products destroyed by NAFDAC, She said in the last four years over 144 raids on hawkers of drugs have been carried out across the federation and products worth over N17, 465,000 confiscated.
She further disclosed that a few weeks ago, the Agency arrested food fraudsters and mopped –up fake, unlabelled, expired, repackaged cereal products such as corn flakes, oats, coco balls among others sold in the open markets via social media platforms.
She said the products being destroyed are seized products by the agency from manufacturers, importers, distributors as well as products ordered to be destroyed by the courts.
READ ALSO: Abuse of Chemicals, Drugs, Pesticide: NAFDAC commences sensitization
Also, others are damaged and expired products voluntarily handed over to the Agency by compliant companies, non g government al organisations and trade unions.
Adeyeye appealed to community leaders, leaders of faith based organisations, health practitioners and the media to continue to educate their members to desist from patronising quacks and peddlers /hawkers of medicines and unwholesome foods.
The agency further appealed for the release of valuable information from members of the public to further support NAFDAC in the fight against fakers whose only desire is to make money out Nigerians’ misery.
Speaking, the Deputy Director, Investigation & Enforcement, Mr. Iluyomade Martins noted that the fight against fake and counterfeit products in the country was still an ongoing battle, adding that the agency will not relent in her efforts to stamp out fake and counterfeit products.
“The message is very clear to the people who are determined to always undermine what the government stands for in terms of giving the people safe, healthy and uncontaminated products but we have people who are determined to make money, they must always bring things that are not in line with our laws and regulations to this country.”
