A fresh crackdown on counterfeit drugs and unsafe foods has begun in Kano as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) inaugurates a special task force.
NAFDAC says the initiative is aimed at strengthening enforcement and protecting public health.
Speaking in Kano, NAFDAC Director-General, Mojisola Adeyeye, said the task force will intensify the fight against fake and substandard drugs and foods.
She said, “Counterfeit drugs and unsafe foods pose serious risks to public health and undermine confidence in the healthcare system”.
Adeyeye added that Kano’s position as a commercial hub makes it particularly vulnerable to the spread of falsified products.
She said the task force will handle surveillance, enforcement, seizures, arrests, prosecutions and public sensitisation, stressing that, “our goal is to ensure no unsafe product finds its way into the hands of Nigerians”.
Kano State Secretary to the Government, Umar Farouk-Ibrahim, said the move is necessary to address rising drug abuse and counterfeit circulation, especially among youths.
He warned that, “drug addiction among our young people is a growing concern that requires urgent and sustained intervention”.
NAFDAC Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Martins Iluyomade, described Kano as a key hub for counterfeit medicines, calling fake drugs a “silent but deadly threat causing avoidable deaths”.
He disclosed that eight containers of cloned medicines were recently intercepted.
The task force chairman, Kamilu Mudi-Salisu, pledged intensified action, saying, “we are committed to raiding, seizing illegal products and prosecuting offenders in line with the law”.
