Emma Ogu
3 September 2007
Owerri — DIRECTOR-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Dora Akunyili last Saturday said her agency has destroyed fake drugs worth over N20 billion in the last six years of its inception even as she lamented the activities of fake drug barons.
She also disclosed that about 45 persons have been convicted in the process while 65 other cases are still pending in the court.
Akunyili, who stated this in Owerri, Imo State last Saturday during Odenigbo lecture entitled: Ogwudire: Ezi nka na nruru aka meaning "Effective Drugs, the Genuine Art and Science and its fake" however stated that NAFDAC through its efforts has reduced the incidence of fake drugs from its initial 41 per cent to 16.7 per cent in 2006, a situation, which she noted has encouraged drug manufacturing companies that hitherto left the business to come back to business.
She further stated that the only way to eradicate fake and expired drugs in the country was through collaborative efforts of the judiciary, drug manufacturing companies, law enforcement agents and other stakeholders.
She, however, flayed court ruling on her attempted assassination, claiming that this has emboldened fake drug dealers in Onitsha to fight NAFDAC the more.
Akunyili in her 44 page lecture in Igbo language she delivered at the Odenigbo pavilion of the Assumpta Cathederal on Saturday, pointed out specifically that the court ruling on her assassination attempt which freed the suspected murderers emboldened and encouraged fake drug dealers in Onitsha to rebel against NAFDAC and fight the agency's officials in order to return to fake drug business which they hitherto abandoned.
"Not only did they challenge NAFDAC officials, they rebelled against and fought our team. On June 3 for instance, they fought and dislodged NAFDAC officials alongside 12 policemen in their team at the Onitsha drug marke and they miraculously escaped from being killed. Only God saved them indeed", she said."
The NAFDAC boss said the worst of it all is that the fake drug marchants are well known in Onitsha as they were not masked when they attacked NAFDAC officials in the area.
She disclosed that World Health Organisation (WHO) and DFID investigation in Nigeria revealed that apart from Onitsha where 30 per cent of fake drugs in Nigeria are sold, the percentage of fake drugs in the entire country is not up to 10 per cent which means that the total fake drugs in Nigeria today is 16.7 per cent.
According to her, though the figure is less than what it was prior to 2001 when she came on board as NAFDAC boss, it is not yet acceptable since the issue of fake drugs affects human life.
She said that when it became clear that NAFDAC can no longer penetrate into Onitsha market to check the incidence of fake drugs, the agency had no other option than to close the drug market on March 6, 2007 with 350 policemen and 150 soldiers during which it discovered heaps of fake, adulterated and expired drugs which filled 104 trucks worth about N6.5 billion and which was publicly burnt on 5th April.
Nevertheless, Akunyili noted that the closure of the drug market on 6th march was one of the biggest exploits of the agency in its continued war against dealers on fake and adulterated drugs in the country stressing that most of the fake drug dealers elsewhere were trained in Onitsha.
According to the lecturer, the issue of fake and expired drugs is evil worse than armed robbery and trading on it is the worst crime in the human planet as it is something that affects human life and has the potency of wiping out a nation. She said that while armed robbery can be avoided or escaped, fake drug is a trap to every one adding that it not only poses resistance to efficacy of original drugs but it kills.
This year's Odenigbo lecture attracted large participants from across Igbo speaking nations. Imo state government was represented on the occasion by Dr. Mrs. Ada Okwuonu, the deputy governor and Mr. Ken Njemanze, Attorney General and Commissioner for justice, while the Anambra State governor Mr. Peter Obi was represented by the state commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Dr. Ego Uzoezie. Professor Akunyili was accompanied to the venue by her husband Dr. J. C. Akunyili. The host Archbishop Anthony Obinna kicked off the occasion with a church service at the Assumpta Cathederal, Owerri.
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