Lagos Declares War On Illegal Drug Dealers

The Lagos State government has declared war against the sale of adulterated drugs by  unregistered pharmaceutical shops across the state, saying it will not fold its  hands and allow the lives of people to be endangered.

This followed the closing down of over 1,000 illegal patent medicine and  pharmaceutical shops at the open drug market in Idumota, Lagos Island, southwest  Nigeria.

“The vitiation of the law by operators at the Idumota drug market must be halted by  any responsible government. The appropriate licensing authority, the Pharmaceutical  Council of Nigeria has not registered any pharmaceutical company at Idumota area  since 1992 after it had given prior alerts through public notices in the media,”  said Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Toyin Amzat.

Amzat called on consumers, stakeholders and the public to join government in the  crusade to eradicate the sale of adulterated drugs in Lagos, especially at Idumota.

“The Lagos State government finds it necessary to warn all owners of properties  which host the illegal pharmaceutical companies to be mindful of the provisions of  section I (C) and 2 (C) of Act 25 of 1999 which made it an offence for persons to  aid or abet persons to sell, distribute or display for sale any adulterated or  counterfeit products as well as aid or abet persons to hawk, sell, display for the  purpose of sale in any premises not registered for such by the appropriate  authority.

“This government will apply necessary sanctions in tandem with relevant laws to  anybody found sabotaging our current effort through aiding and abetting,” he said,  assuring the public that government would uphold all known tenets of good health in  the interest of the people.

According to Amzat, the Idumota open drug market has been notorious for several  violations which continue to inflict substantial mortality on the Nigerian populace.

He revealed that the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria in its recent survey put the  incidence of drug faking in Nigeria at about 53 per cent.

The special adviser lamented that the peculiar operational mode of drugs market  operators who employ the use of underage apprentices, who were most often  illiterates, in the sale of drugs was a major disaster.

“A survey reveals that each drug market turns out about 1,000 ‘graduates’  apprentices every year.   These apprentices are released into the system with a  discharge fee to maintain the cyclical practice which ultimately encourages these  former apprentices to ‘cut corners’ in the name of survival, creating havoc by  trading in cheaper drugs which are fake and substandard.

“It is pertinent to inform you that the problems of drug distribution in Nigeria  have security implications. This is because experience has shown that the peculiar  nature of the network available in the open drug markets is very large and  effective,” he said.

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

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