The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, should not apply collective punishment on medications sellers in the Onitsha medicine market, as there are many genuine traders in the market who will not engage in the sale of fake drugs, and such should not be punished unnecessarily.
This is the position of the South-South Caucus of the House of Representatives, who addressed journalists on the closure of the market by NAFDAC in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Tuesday.
The development comes as some affected traders in the market has sued the agency, federal and Anambra state government
The leader of the caucus Igariwey Iduma Enwo called on the medicine regulator to immediately reopened the market located at the Bridgehead, in Onitsha, Anambra.
The market was shut the market on February 10 over alleged massive procurement and distribution of fake and counterfeit drugs by traders in the market.
The Agency had earlier shut down the Kano, and Idumota, Lagos Markets for the same reasons.
According to the Caucus, “our attention has been drawn to the continued lock down of the Onitsha medicine market located at the Bridge head, in Onitsha, Anambra State.
“As a caucus, we 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.
“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.
“Caucus hereby commends NAFDAC for their intervention in halting the unconscionable activities of these merchants of death all over the country.
“However, while we are mindful of NAFDAC’s statutory role in curbing and stamping out fake drugs in the country, we urge them to quickly arrest and prosecute those responsible for the production and distribution of these fake drugs.
“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 businessmen and women.
“Therefore, 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, we 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.”
Meanwhile, four of the traders affected by the closure has sued NAFDAC for N50 million for general damages.
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