The National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has requested the cooperation of security agencies in Anambra to fight the danger of fake and counterfeit food and drugs in the state.
The Director of NAFDAC in charge of Southeast, Mr Martins Iluyomade, gave this indication when he visited the Commissioner of Police, Anambra Command, Assistant Inspector General of Police in Charge of Zone 13 and Director of Department of State Services, DSS, Anambra, in their offices.
Iluyomade said Anambra was strategic to drug distribution in Nigeria and that if fake and counterfeit products could be checked in the state, a large part of the menace in the country would have been solved.
The Zonal Director, who was accompanied by Mr Louis Madubuatta, the Coordinator of NAFDAC, Anambra, and Mrs Victoria Akudu, the Zonal Public Relations Officer, said they were at the Police Command to give face to the partnership between the two federal agencies.
He appreciated the Police in Anambra for their cooperation over the years but expressed displeasure that some Police officers within Onitsha had turned themselves to regulators instead of helping NAFDAC in enforcement.
“The collaboration between NAFDAC is rooted in the Act establishing the agency, so I am here to bring that partnership to life in Anambra and the entire Southeast.
“Anambra is strategic to drug distribution in Nigeria, they are very industrious, so we want to protect the people and the hardworking manufacturers and entrepreneurs
“We want to ensure that when people buy a product, they will be getting the full value of what they are consuming,” he said.