It was a combined team of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Borno State Ministry of Health, which raided some warehouses in the Gamboru district of Maiduguri and seized millions of naira worth of pharmaceuticals, which had been kept poorly and adulterated by recent flooding.
These efforts were meant to forestall the sales and distribution of such deleterious medications that could pose serious health risks.
The Director of NAFDAC in the North-East, Kenneth Azikiwe, said the Agency was acting on the directive of its Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, to evacuate and destroy the bad drugs.
He called on the public not to buy flood-affected drugs and encouraged neighbors to report anybody found sun-drying or selling the flood-contaminated drugs.
“The Director General of NAFDAC Prof. Christianana Mojisola Adeyeye directed the evacuation of the damaged drugs and other regulated products as to avoid a bigger and more dangerous public health emergency in the state from the market,” Azikiwe tweeted.
While calling for the public to be vigilant and to report any act of sun drying or selling of pharmaceuticals affected by flood, DG said NAFDAC remains committed to safe and quality drugs for the Nation.
Health Commissioner, Baba Malam Gana, while reassuring safe drug storage, said the State government will liaise with necessary agencies for the correction at Gamboru market.
Medicine storage has to be done properly. I am very delighted to say, the Executive Director of the Borno State Drugs and Medical Consumable Agency is standing right beside me and we are going to swing into action to ensure that this area will not be the same again. Drugs must be stored the way it should be stored,” Gana said.
He, however, assured the affected business owners that they would be duly compensated for their losses courtesy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Babagana Zulum.
“I want to confirm that His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was here in Maiduguri and he has promised that he would do everything to make sure that people of Borno State do not suffer, and this will include people who have lost their businesses like people in this Gamboru drugs market, they will benefit from the assitance. The state government is going to do its best to ensure help has come to them,” he added.
Bukar Modu, Chairman of the Gamboru Medicine Market, promised cooperation with the authorities in ensuring public safety and called for financial support to rehabilitate the market.
“We are willing to cooperate will all directives from the state government. What is most important to us for now is the health of our people. We have sensitised the marketers here and made them understand that people’s live first. We however anticipate that the government will not leave us after this process, but give us necessary financial supports,” Modu said.
NAFDAC also called on the public to ensure that any pharmaceutical product was examined for possible contamination with wet packaging among others and report same.
The efforts of NAFDAC are part of a broader bid to avert a public health crisis in the wake of the recent rains in Borno State.
 and the Borno State Ministry of Health, which raided some warehouses in the Gamboru district of Maiduguri and seized millions of naira worth of pharmaceuticals, which had been kept poorly and adulterated by recent flooding.){kind=link}