National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), on Tuesday, called for the temporary shutdown of Cemetery Market, Aba, Abia State for proper sanitization following the huge discovery of fake products manufacturing centres.
Our correspondent reports that the raid which started on Monday, continued on Tuesday, NAFDAC intensified efforts to get the market safe from fake, expired and harmful products.
Mr Martins Iluyomade, Director of NAFDAC South-East Zone while addressing journalists on Tuesday said that they got information that something was happening at the market, did their background checks and discovered that horrendous things were happening there.
“What’s happening here is worse than Boko Haram. We saw how too many shops were converted into manufacturing centres for all manner of wines, expensive drinks, and revalidation of date for expired products.
“We have the cooperation of the state government and so far we’ve discovered 240 shops used for this illegal manufacturing of fake consumables. About ten persons have been arrested and the arrest is still ongoing.
What we have moved out from here, four trailers cannot carry it. It shows the extent we’ve gone so bad as a country and the extent of dangers these people are creating.
“No wonder we have all manners of health issues and the funny thing is that we use our money to buy this evil. Our DG is not leaving any stone unturned in getting rid of fake products in our market.
“I will suggest that this market be shut down for now until we sanitize this market for a while. We’ve written to appropriate authorities to that effect and we think it’s the right thing to do because when people are around, everywhere is rowdy.”
The Coalition of South-East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) frowned at the development, describing it as man’s inhumanity to man, which it says should not be treated with kid gloves.
Comrade Goodluck Ibem, Leader of COSEYL called on the National Assembly to find a way to amend the constitution to ensure that nothing less than a capital punishment is inserted as a legal consequence for producing and marketing fake products.
He called on the Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti to cooperate with NAFDAC to ensure that the Cemetery Market is sanitised, and bad eggs are sent out while genuine business people are encouraged to do their lawful businesses.
Aba Unit of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) described the situation as terrorism with the perpetrators as terrorists who should be properly dealt with by the agency
Chairman of CLO in Aba, Prof. Charles Chinekezi however, charged officials of NAFDAC and other law enforcement agencies in the areas of fake, substandard and expired products to be more serious in dealing with perpetrators of such acts.
He stressed that the attitude of the agency will go a long way in determining if such activities will continue or stop, stressing that similar raids and arrests have taken place before with the perpetrators returning to business within some time.
