BY DAVID ADUGE-ANI, ABUJA
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said it is ready to partner with the National Counter Terrorism Centre – Office of the National Security Adviser (NCTC-ONSA) to fight drug counterfeiting, drug abuse, unwholesome food, unauthorised handling of chemicals and other criminal activities in the country.
Director-General of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye stated this in Abuja when she received the national coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Major-General Adamu Garba Laka and his team, who were on a courtesy visit to her office in Abuja.
Professor Adeyeye stated that NAFDAC would continue to work with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to ensure that sanity returns to the country, adding that the partnership between the two strategic agencies in the country at this point is very apt to safeguard the lives of the citizens.
She thanked the Office of the National Security Adviser for returning NAFDAC to the ports in 2018, a year after her assumption of office, noting that NAFDAC was out of the ports for seven years, from 2011 to 2018, for reasons not known to her.
The Director General noted that during the period when NAFDAC was out of the ports, so many things went wrong, as the importation of counterfeit drugs, such as Tramadol and others became rampant, while there was an increase in terrorism activities in the country.
Professor used the occasion to warn criminals who deal with substandard and falsified medicines, unwholesome food, and illegal manufacture and importation of chemicals into the country, to desist from such practices as the full wrath of the law shall be meted out to anybody caught indulging in such nefarious activities.
She said NAFDAC is currently weighing its war against counterfeiters across the country, by arresting and prosecuting those involved in violating the rules.
Speaking earlier, the national coordinator, NCTC-ONSA, Maj. Gen. AG Laka noted that NAFDAC is an embodiment of knowledge in the area science and research which standout the agency in the community of world regulatory authorities.
Laka pledged his continuous support to the agency in the areas of operations, research, laboratory testing and investigation, even as he sought the support of the agency in the areas of operationalisation of the laboratory equipment and analysis to enable it achieve its objective.