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Fake Drugs Scandal: NAFDAC Takes Charge as Customs Expose N20.5bn Black Market
As part of its sustained crackdown on fake and substandard regulated goods, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has received 15 containers filled with falsified pharmaceutical products and adulterated tomato paste smuggled into the country through the Onne Port in Port Harcourt.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
In a statement issued on Sunday and signed by NAFDAC’s Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, the agency disclosed that the confiscated items had an estimated street value of N20.5 billion.
According to the statement, the illicit consignment—comprising 11 containers of banned and unregistered pharmaceutical drugs and four containers of substandard tomato paste—was officially handed over on Saturday to NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, by the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, in a ceremony symbolising ongoing institutional collaboration between the two agencies.
Among the intercepted items were 1.3 million bottles of codeine syrup (a tightly controlled, prescription-only medication), 12.6 million tablets of Tramadol (a highly addictive painkiller for post-operative care), and 9.3 million tablets of falsified Diclofenac (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug for treating arthritis). Also seized were 280 packs of Hyergra—a counterfeit version of Sildenafil Citrate for erectile dysfunction—as well as the aforementioned containers of unwholesome tomato paste.
Commending the Customs Service for its vigilance, Prof. Adeyeye reaffirmed NAFDAC’s commitment to protecting public health and warned criminal elements, both domestic and foreign, that Nigeria is not a dumping ground for harmful products.
“We want to send a strong message to unscrupulous merchants: under our watch, fake and substandard food and drug products will not be allowed to circulate among our people,” she declared. “Even recent threats to our staff, including attempted kidnappings, have only strengthened our resolve. With the support of God and the Nigerian people, we will not back down.”
The NAFDAC boss also called on Nigerians to actively report suspected cases of illegal manufacture, importation, distribution, or sales of substandard goods to the agency’s offices or via its official social media channels.
Highlighting the severe dangers of consuming contaminated or expired products, Prof. Adeyeye warned that these include acute food poisoning, gastrointestinal illness, organ damage, nutritional deficiencies, cancer risks from toxic preservatives and dyes, and neurological or cognitive harm from ultra-processed foods laden with sugar, salt, and artificial additives.
She concluded by reiterating the importance of institutional synergy in combating this menace, promising that NAFDAC would continue to innovate and collaborate with credible partners in the quest to build a safer, healthier Nigeria—while stressing that public health security is a collective responsibility.
Nigeria ended the 24th African Athletics Championships on a strong note as the women’s 4x400m relay team stormed to gold on the final day, helping the country finish with a total of 12 medals.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
The quartet of Esther Okon, Toheebat Jimoh, Jecinter Lawrence, and Patience Okon-George delivered a dominant performance to successfully defend their title, winning in 3:29.25 on Sunday and finishing comfortably ahead of Ethiopia and Kenya.
Nigeria controlled the race from the opening leg and crossed the finish line nearly 30 metres clear of their closest rivals, securing the country’s fourth gold medal of the competition.
Overall, Team Nigeria finished fourth on the medal table with four gold, five silver, and three bronze medals, behind Kenya, South Africa, and Ethiopia. Kenya topped the standings with 17 medals, including six gold, while South Africa also secured six gold medals, and Ethiopia claimed five.
Nigeria’s final-day silver medal came through Rosemary Chukwuma, who finished second in the women’s 200m with a time of 23.60s, behind Ivory Coast’s Maboundou Kone, who clocked 23.36s. Chukwuma ended the championships with three medals, having earlier won gold in the women’s 4x100m relay and silver in the 100m.
The country’s campaign was led by world record holder Tobi Amusan, who claimed gold in the women’s 100m hurdles with a time of 12.83s. The mixed 4x400m relay team of Ezekiel Asuquo, Toheebat Jimoh, Victor Sampson, and Patience Okon-George also secured gold in 3:16.44, while the women’s 4x100m relay team added another title in 42.94s.
Silver medals were won by Oyesade Olatoye in the hammer throw (69.60m), Divine Oladipo in the discus, and the men’s 4x100m relay team, which finished in 38.70s. Adaobi Tabugbo earned bronze in the women’s 100m hurdles with 13.26s, while Chidera Ezeakor also picked up bronze in the men’s 100m after running 10.31s, rounding off a strong outing for Nigeria.
Nigerian activist Omoyele Sowore has criticised singer Adekunle Gold over the legal case involving a young man identified as Adeboye Samuel.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
News reports that Adeboye was taken to court after making a social media post about the singer’s daughter.
Reacting to the development, Sowore referenced an old post by Adekunle Gold in which the singer had criticised former President Goodluck Jonathan.
He noted that the post, which circulated during the 2012 fuel subsidy protests, had gone unpunished as an expression of free speech. The post read: “Dear God, if you give us Dagrin back, we will give you Jonathan in return.”
Sowore wrote on X: “@AdekunleGold in 2012 openly criticising then-President @GoodluckJonathan. Back then, it was rightly called free speech, and if he had been arrested for those tweets, we would have been on the streets demanding his immediate release.
“How then does someone who benefited from freedom of expression turn around years later to use the police, courts, and the brutal cybercrime framework against ordinary Nigerians over online banter and social media exchanges?
“You cannot enjoy free speech when you are powerless, and criminalise it the moment you become influential. Freedom of expression must apply to everyone, celebrities, politicians, activists, and poor young Nigerians on social media alike.”
He further urged the Nigeria Police Force not to act as a “private army” for influential individuals, and called on the judiciary to avoid imposing excessive penalties on online speech cases that, according to him, should not be treated as criminal matters.
Rabiu Kwankwaso, a chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has called on Nigerians to move beyond ethnic and religious divisions ahead of the 2027 general elections.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
Kwankwaso made the appeal during an interview with Trust TV on Sunday, where he spoke on political alignments ahead of the polls.
The former presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) said political success in Nigeria cannot be achieved by the North or Muslims alone without support from Christians and other regions.
“We must look beyond tribe and religion. We are Northerners and Muslims, and everybody knows that, but we can’t play politics without Christians, Southeast, South-South or South-west,” he said.
Kwankwaso also praised former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, describing him as a widely accepted politician across the country.
“If you look at it, Peter Obi is a very popular politician in the entire South and many parts of Northern Nigeria, and you cannot take that from him, the same with the Kwankwasiyya movement,” he said.
He further noted that supporters of the Kwankwasiyya movement are largely young Nigerians who are seeking better opportunities rather than ethnic or family-based loyalty.
“We are lucky that our supporters are mainly young men and women who are looking for a way out. They are not looking for their brothers or their sisters or somebody close,” he added.
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